


Hell and Back

by TheSmoose



Category: Iron Man (Comic), Iron Man (Movies), Iron Man - All Media Types, Marvel
Genre: Angst, Gen, Heavy Angst, My god the angst, Pepperony - Freeform, yet another roleplay fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-04
Updated: 2013-07-06
Packaged: 2017-12-10 10:15:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 16
Words: 49,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/784909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSmoose/pseuds/TheSmoose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if Pepper had been with Tony when he was kidnapped? How would it impact their friendship, not to mention a potential relationship with him? And would being Tony Stark get in the way? Rated M for sensitive material. Mentions of rape.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One

The day had started well enough.

He'd managed to recover from the award ceremony's hangover quick enough and escape the torment of actually having to talk to...Carrie? Kristi? Whatever. He'd escaped to the haven of his workshop and left Pepper to handle her, and handle her she must have because the woman herself was click-clacking her way into the room, commandeering his stereo as she did so.

"Please don't turn down my music." He called to her, not bothering to take his eyes away from the car he was attempting to fix.

"Sir, the compression in cylinder three appears to be low." Jarvis supplied and Tony immediately set about trying to remove it.

"You are supposed to be halfway around the world right now." Pepper sighed, scribbling something on the ledger in her hands while juggling the phone she'd just put down before looking up at him, rolling her eyes when she noticed what he was doing. "How long are you going to keep fixing that thing, Tony?"

"I'm not...fixing it." He mumbled through gritted teeth as he tried to release the cylinder Jarvis had noted before. "I'm...improving...damn that's tight. Potts, pass me the lube would ya?"

Pepper rolled her eyes again but obliged, reaching over the car to the worktable behind it and grabbing the spray lubricant, pausing before handing it to him.

"It's a rust bucket." She said. "You've never even driven it."

Tony's head shot up and he gave her a scandalized look, taking the lubricant from her and sitting back to stare at her.

"Pepper, you don't drive a car like this!" he stressed, spraying the bolt he was trying to loosen and trying once more to get it off. "I'm restoring it back to how it would have run back when it was new. My Dad bought this thing when I was a kid and we used to work on it together, and it was-"

"'It was a heap of junk but we got it to run and now it just needs tender loving care', yes, I know Tony, you've told me this story a thousand times." Pepper sighed. "I didn't come down here to talk to you about the damn car."

Tony sighed and promptly stood up, abandoning his seemingly impossible mission to remove the cylinder and fixing Pepper with an understanding smile.

"You've finally seen the light and realised you want me." He nodded. "I gotta tell you, Potts, I was starting to worry that you'd never get there. But it's ok, I forgive you."

Pepper closed her eyes and counted to ten in her mind before opening them again, finding Tony with a smug smirk fixed on his face. She smiled back, her patented 'I'm-about-to-reach-the-end-of-my-rope' smiled, and stepped forwards slightly, causing his smirk to falter slightly.

"Tony." She said slowly, dangerously. "It took me two and a half weeks of phone calls, emails and meetings with six different Governments, including our own in order to secure not only the permission, but the security for you to go and demonstrate the Jericho. During those two weeks, I missed five meals, got about four hours sleep per night, had to cancel on a friend's birthday party and hung up on my mother halfway through a conversation because I had to answer another call. If I don't see you on that plane within the next hour, I will make sure that the next year of your life is a constant hell of budget meetings, meet-and-greets, public high school speeches and I will guarantee that the only tail you'll be chasing will be the one between your legs." She raised an eyebrow as she gauged his reaction, pleased to see his Adam's apple bob in his throat and his nostril's flare. "Do I make myself clear?"

Unfortunately, Tony always liked poking the dragon while it slept, and a smile slowly crept back onto his face as he stared her down.

"God, I love it when you're strict with me." He growled, but backed away when her eyes blazed. "Ok, ok, I'm going, I'm all packed. I am all packed right?"

Pepper silently thanked whatever God was looking out for her and nodded, quickly ushering him back up to the house. "Yes, your bag is right by the door like I told you this morning and Happy is still waiting out front." She started texting Rhodey to tell him Tony was on his way and didn't notice that the man himself had stopped, meaning she bumped right into his chest, a soft squeak coming from her mouth. "Why have you stopped? Get going!"

"What about you?" he asked. "Where's your luggage."

Pepper furrowed her brow. "Um...at home stuffed under my bed? Where I usually keep it when I don't need it?"

Tony looked a bit put out at this and crossed his arms over his chest. "So...you're not coming with me?"

"They don't call you genius for nothing, do they?" she jibbed before smacking him lightly on the arm with her ledger. "Move, Tony, or do you want me to get Mr Heavyweight Champion of the World in here?"

Tony snorted and stood his ground. "Come with me. I need an assistant."

"You'll have an assistant." Pepper all but whimpered. "Cedric is flying out tomorrow, come on Tony."

"I don't want Cedric." He spat, saying the other man's name like it was a curse. "I want you."

That made her stop in her tracks. She didn't quite know what to say to that, and it looked like Tony hadn't meant to say it because suddenly he was looking like he'd lost the ability to articulate

"Um...that is to say...cos Cedric's useless." He covered after a moment, but Pepper noted the faint blush in his cheeks and fought to control her own.

"He's not useless." Pepper tried to defend her colleague. Cedric was new, he'd only been with the company for two months, fresh from University and still star-struck.

"Pep, he only puts three sugars in my coffee!"

"Because normal people don't have five sugars in their coffee!" she argued. "They don't even have three!"

Tony threw his head back on his shoulders like a petulant child and sighed heavily before lifting it and staring at her again.

"Please?" he tried again, thinking maybe this was one of those times he should use those manners his mother taught him when he was a child. "Please will you come with me instead? I promise to behave. Mostly." He smiled a little and could see her defences waning. Pepper could feel it too, and she couldn't really think of a good enough excuse to say no to him. 'I'm afraid I'll bone you at some point' didn't seem to cover it, and it wasn't exactly like she could phrase it differently.

"Fine." She sighed after a moment, hiding a smirk at Tony's victory air punch. "But you're driving me to my apartment to pack first."

And so the day had started well. They'd even made it through the afternoon and through the demonstration without a hiccup. It was on the way back to base that things started to fall apart. They were travelling in a convoy on the way back, Tony in one car and Pepper and Rhodey in the one behind. He'd been bantering with the soldiers assigned to protect him and was just taking a picture with the youngest kid, Jimmy, who couldn't have been older than twenty, when the Humvee in front of them exploded in a ball of flame. A thunder of bullets hammered into the left hand side of the vehicle and all hell broke loose. Tony barely registered the soldiers yelling at each other and yelling at him to stay the fuck down, and time seemed to stretch on and at the same time stop completely. He watched as Jimmy jumped out of the truck and was torn apart by bullets almost instantly. The other two soldiers didn't seem to have fared much better, and Tony was fairly certain that staying in the truck was not the best option, so he jumped out of the right hand side and ran for his life. He could hear yells and a definitely female scream and that made him stop.

"Pepper!" he yelled and pelted back the way he had come, watching as the Humvee he'd been in seconds before went up in a ball of flame. He'd almost made it to Pepper and Rhodey's car when a haze of bullets rained down, missing him by inches. He threw himself behind a boulder, panting and craning his neck around the rock as much as he dared to see what was going on. All he could see was smoke, the only sounds coming from guns and Pepper's screams. And then a whooshing noise by his right ear. He turned his head and struggled to register what he was seeing, because there was no way that he could be seeing it. One of his own missiles was lying in the sand mere feet from him. A missile that hadn't even been signed off to be sold yet. Unfortunately, by the time his brain had processed what he was seeing, it was already too late. He jumped to his feet and was immediately thrown thirty feet backwards, landing with a thud on his back as the missile exploded. He blinked lazily up at the baking sun and coughed, pain ripping through his chest. He frantically tore at his shirt and stared at his body armour, which seemed to still be intact...and then he saw the blood. It spread rapidly out from dozens of spots around his chest and every breath he drew pushed more blood to the surface.

The last thought that floated through his mind before he passed out was thinking how ironic it was that only he would create the only indestructible body armour in the world, and then create the only missile that could penetrate it.


	2. Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I in no way pretend to know any other language other than English, the translations were done online.

Pepper's journey was a lot more stressful than Tony's. Sure, he'd been blown up and was bleeding profusely, but at least he was out cold for most of the adventure. She'd known something was wrong when Rhodey, who up until that point had been talking animatedly about some special award he was meant to be receiving, promptly stopped and stared out of the window to her left. Confused, Pepper did the same and squinted into the distance, just able to make out a small, square...something in the distance. But there wasn't just one.

"Hey, I thought we were the only military out here today?" Rhodey questioned the soldier next to the driver. The man was about to open his mouth when there was a colossal boom and not two seconds later the lead convoy vehicle exploded, causing Pepper to scream.

"Contact left!" the driver yelled as he slammed on the brakes and fumbled for his gun. Rhodey – ever the professional – jumped out with the driver to help, leaving Pepper and the other soldier who had wound down his window a little in order to remain under cover as he shot back. Pepper barely heard his yelling over the sound of not only his bullets, but the bullets pelting into the side of the Humvee. Scared out of her mind, she hunkered down on the floor of the truck and covered her ears with her hands, closing her eyes tightly and letting out a sob when she heard the horrifying gurgle as her protector died. She heard more shouting and suddenly the door of her truck was flung open and a hand grabbed her arm. She screamed again, opening her eyes to find a tall, dark skinned man, a filthy rag covering his mouth looming over her. He chuckled as she screamed again, still crying, but then turned as did she when Tony yelled her name. She couldn't see where he was, but they must have because there was a deafening boom again and no more sounds from Tony.

"Ju idiot! Nëse ai është i vdekur, Raza do të ketë kokën tuaj!" ("You idiot! If he's dead, Raza will have your head!") cried her captor and Pepper turned to find a further ten men jogging towards them, one holding – of all things – a rocket launcher. A Stark Industries rocket launcher. The man holding it looked panicked as he shouted and quickly put the thing down, sprinting towards where Tony had been with two other men.

"Disa prej tyre janë ende gjallë." ("Some of them are still alive.") Another man spoke to the man holding Pepper as she struggled in his grasp. He squeezed her arm and yelled at her, probably telling her to stop struggling.

"Ai është i gjallë, por të plagosur. Ai ka nevojë për kirurg." ("He's alive but injured. He needs the surgeon.") The men who had gone to find Tony were coming back and Pepper let out a sob as she saw them struggling with his unconscious and very bloodied body. He looked dead. Blood was dripping into the sand from his hand as it flopped uselessly at his side.

"Dërgo ato." Yelled Pepper's captor and waved at the men to start walking back the way they had come. "Ne kemi Stark, gruaja mund të vijnë me ne." ("Leave them. We have Stark, the woman can come with us.") And with that, he followed his troop, dragging a furiously fighting Pepper along with him.

That had been several hours ago, and Pepper could safely say she'd never been more scared in her entire life. After being thrown into the back of a military standard Range Rover, they drove for a short while. At first she'd found it strange that they didn't bother to conceal where it was they were taking her, but after a moment she realised that was probably because they didn't have any concerns about her surviving long enough to lead anyone back. They ended up driving through a bizarre sort of market, but judging by the hundreds of wooden crates and tents, this wasn't the kind of market you bought groceries at. She was dragged from the car and watched as Tony was carried quickly into the mouth of the huge cave in front of them. She followed with the man who still had an iron grip on her arm – it wasn't like she was going to run anywhere with that gun digging into her ribs – and tried to follow as the other group split off and headed through a metal door, but her captor dragged her away to the left and through endless tunnels and doorways until finally entering a dingy room holding one small bed and not much else.

"Ju do të fle këtu." ("You will sleep here.") The man said as he pushed her into the room. He pointed to her and then to the bed, and then to the gun and his meaning was quite clear – if she tried to escape, she would die. His message understood, the man backed out of the room and the door was slammed shut behind him. Immediately Pepper crept up to the door and pressed her ear against it, but jerked back as the sound of the butt of a gun banging against the other side indicated that she was being guarded, just as she'd suspected.

With no feasible means of escape, at least from the only exit, she looked around the rest of the room. A small bed against the far wall with a very questionable mattress and moth eaten quilts folded on top of it was the only real furniture. An upturned bucket and trough on either side of what she suspected was a small fire pit was in the centre of the room, and over on the left hand wall were three...things. Large, metal boxes with all kinds of switches and dials...she had no idea what they were, but if she had to guess she'd say they were generators, given the way the single light on the roof of the cave was flickering in time with the solid hums emitting from them. Her inventory of the room – her cell – taken, she made her way over to the bed, giving an appraising look to the mattress before sitting gingerly on the edge and grabbing one of the blankets, jerking away slightly when the stench of them hit her nostrils. She draped one around her and closed her eyes, trying to suppress the urge to vomit as the stress and fear washed over her. She didn't know what the hell had happened, she didn't know if Rhodey was still alive, if anyone knew they'd been abducted, or even if Tony was going to make it. If he wasn't already dead.

A sob escaped her lips before she could stop it, followed by a torrent of emotion as she drew her knees up to her chest and cried her heart out.

* * *

Hours passed. Pepper had finally cried herself out and was having an inner battle with herself over whether she was more hungry or thirsty, or if indeed relieving either of those would in fact make her throw up, when the bolt on the other side of her door slid back and her head jerked up.

The first thing she saw was the gun and the man holding it, yelling at her, and she didn't need a translator to know he was telling her to stay where she was as more men entered, one carrying a car battery and the others dragging Tony in by his shoulders, his feet scraping along the sandy floor and his head hung low. Pepper felt relief wash over her as she understood he had to be alive – why would they keep a dead body? – and only the fear of being shot kept her from launching herself at Tony. The men dropped him unceremoniously onto the floor and placed the battery next to him and then left the room, but the man with the gun stayed, and at first Pepper had a fleeting thought that perhaps they had kept her for a more specific reason than she'd first suspected, but she breathed a little easier as an elderly woman entered carrying a tray with two bowls of steaming food and a bottle of water for each of them, placing it on the floor beside Tony before swiftly turning and hurrying back out of the room, her eyes downcast as she passed the man with the gun. Once the old woman was out of the room, the gunman backed out as well and the door was once more slammed shut and bolted from the outside. As soon as it was, Pepper flew to Tony's side, crashing to her knees and shaking his shoulder gently. He was bare-chested, save for a thick layer of bandages that wound right the way around his chest from armpit to naval.

"Oh, Tony..." Pepper sighed, tears brimming in her eyes as she gently rolled him over and surveyed the damage, frowning as she tried to understand what she was seeing. She'd been confused when she'd seen the car battery, and was now even more so because it looked like the battery was...was attached to his chest. There were cables coming from each terminal of the battery and they seemed to be tucked up under his bandage, but she couldn't understand why. What had they done to him? She traced one of the cables from the battery to where it disappeared under the bandage and gasped when Tony whimpered softly. He was unconscious, but she realised with a stab of horror that whatever operation he'd had, had been done without anaesthetic. He must be in so much pain, she thought, but she felt her secondary nature kick in – to take care of him. She quickly leant across him and grabbed one of the bottles, unscrewing the cap and arranging them both so that he was leant against her a little, her arms holding his head up.

"Tony." She whispered close to his ear. "Tony, I know you can hear me. I need you to drink for me, ok?" she pressed the neck of the bottle to his lips and tipped it a little, allowing a small amount of liquid to enter his mouth. Clearly he hadn't heard her because he coughed, which caused more whimpering which tore at her heart as she stroked his hair, trying to soothe him. "Tony, please, just swallow this, ok? Swallow it for me. It'll make it better, I promise." She tried again, and this time he managed not to inhale the water, letting it slide down his throat. She knew it wouldn't help much, but he hadn't had any food or liquids for as long as she had, and he'd been through a hell of a lot worse. He managed a few more sips before coughing again, a little softer this time and his eyes flitted under the lids.

"Pepper..." he mumbled, his breathing shallow.

"I'm here, I'm alright." She whispered, stroking his cheek and threading her fingers through his hair. "Shh, just sleep."

He huffed a little but calmed almost immediately, his breathing evening out as he drifted off. She stayed in that position, his body cradled against her chest as he slept, knowing there was no way in hell she'd be able to even move the battery, let alone his unconscious body. She managed to eat some of the 'food' they'd brought in – some kind of stew but she was pretty sure it had never been near any kind of traditional stewing animal – and had drunk most of her water by the time she fell asleep, still in the same position and only because she was too exhausted to do anything else.


	3. Three

He was walking down a long corridor. It was dimly lit – only darkness behind him, and there were no doors apart from one at the very end of the corridor that must lead to a room, given the light behind the glass. The funny thing was, every step he took closer to the door, the further away it got. He tried picking up his pace a little but it just got further away faster. Convinced he could outrun it, he started sprinting towards the door as fast as he could, panting after a few minutes of the furious pace.

"What are you running from, Tony?"

A voice came from nowhere and Tony jumped a foot in the air, tripping and crashing to the floor before spinning around and looking for the source of the voice, but there was no one there.

"Hello?" he called out softly. "Is...is anyone there?"

"What are you running from?" the voice asked again, still without a body to attribute it to. Tony swallowed and stood back up, still looking around.

"I'm...I'm not running –from- anything. I need to get to that door." He looked back at the door, still as far away as ever.

"Why?" the voice asked. "You don't even know what's behind it."

Tony frowned. "Well...no. But it's the only choice I've got. There's nowhere else to go."

"There's always another choice." The voice came from behind him and Tony span on his heel, yelping as his father stood behind him, just like Tony remembered him – grey hair, thin moustache and that awful, awful olive green suit.

"Dad? What...I don't understand-"

"You always have a choice." His father said again, folding his arms across his chest. "You need to learn that sometimes the easiest isn't the best option."

Tony sighed, still thoroughly confused. "I don't know if you've noticed, but there's only one door." He said petulantly. "It keeps getting further away."

"Maybe it's trying to tell you something." Howard said. Tony snorted and shook his head.

"Oh yeah? Like what?"

Howard smiled softly and turned, starting to walk away into the darkness. "That's something you need to figure out on your own, son. I can only give you so much help."

Tony shook his head again, letting out a derisive snort. "Yeah, thanks a bunch Dad. Just like old times, huh? You were never there for me."

This made Howard stop, and Tony immediately felt awful for saying it. Howard turned his head slightly and called back over his shoulder.

"I'll always be here for you, Tony. You just need to learn how to ask." And with that, he stepped forward again and vanished into the darkness, leaving Tony bewildered and still at a loss as to what to do. He glanced around the corridor again, still seeing nothing, and sighed.

"Help?" he tried, doubting at all that it would work. "Dad? Help?"

When of course nothing happened, he muttered a curse and started walking towards the door again, getting more and more angry as it stayed exactly where it was no matter how far he walked. After a few minutes, he gave up, looking around again for any other means of escape but finding nothing. Nothing on either side of him and only darkness behind him. Or was it? He turned to look at the darkness, scrutinizing it. His father had walked into it without a second thought, and seeing as this corridor was some kind of opposite land, maybe walking away from the door would bring it closer. He started jogging back the way he had come and sure enough, the door got closer. Smiling to himself, he ran a little faster. The door was almost at his heels now, and it flew open, flooding the corridor with light, but the sight in front of him made Tony stop running. On the right hand side of the corridor was an archway a little further on, and though there was now light in the corridor, it didn't quite reach down the archway, but it did light up the plaque above it.

" _Make a Choice_ "

The door had stopped moving now, no matter which way he walked, the light it emitted almost blinding him, and he found he did have a choice. The easy way was obvious, walk through the doorway. He was certain that something good would happen if he did that, though he wasn't sure what that something was, but the archway was unknown. It was the more difficult choice, and ultimately, he knew, the one he would have to take. Sighing at his own genius bordering on stupidity, he pushed the door closed on the bright room and stepped into the darkened archway.

* * *

Tony woke with a start, gasping for breath as his eyes snapped open. Pain was ripping through his chest and he let out a small moan, barely registering Pepper's arms tightening around him as he did so.

"It's ok, it's alright." She said softly, stroking a hand through his hair as he panted for breath. "Calm down, Tony."

"Wh-what...explosion." he gasped, turning his head up slightly to see her face. "There was an explosion...that kid..." he closed his eyes tightly and made a small whining noise at the thought of Jimmy being pelted with bullets right in front of him. Bile rose in his throat and he just managed to push away from Pepper before throwing up what little there was in his stomach onto the cold, sandy floor of the cave. Pepper rubbed his back sympathetically and after a few seconds he managed to straighten up, wiping his mouth on his sleeve. "What happened?"

Pepper swallowed. He'd scared the life out of her when he woke up so violently, she thought he was having a fit, but she was relieved that he was even alive after whatever trauma he'd been through.

"We were attacked." She said softly, a timid voice she'd never known she even possessed coming from her lips. "They...they killed everyone. I think. We're the only two they took."

"What about Rhodey?" he asked gruffly. Pepper simply shook her head and looked away, and Tony suppressed the urge to throw up again. "We need to get out of here, Pepper, we need...to..." but his sentence faltered when he noticed the car battery, following the cables with his eyes until he saw just where they were leading. He swallowed harshly, eyes wide and his hands came up to the bandages around his chest.

"Tony, don't-" Pepper tried to stop him, mostly out of concern for the hygiene aspect of the freshly open wound, but partly because she just did  _not_  want to see what was beneath the bandages. But it was too late, Tony was ripping them away from his chest, a small cry of horror escaping his lips when he revealed the large metal circle buried in the centre of it. Pepper's eyes grew wide and she stared at it, her own hands shaking. "Is...is that a bomb?"

That thought hadn't even occurred to him. He'd known what it was as soon as he saw the battery and remembered the bomb blast sending shrapnel straight through his armour. He shook his head slowly and brought a hand up slowly to poke at it, regretting it almost instantly as a fresh wave of pain burned deep in his lungs.

"It's an electro-magnet." He whispered, blinking quickly. "That's what the battery is for. A bomb exploded and there's shards of metal in my chest...but why go to all this trouble just to keep me alive?"

Pepper didn't have the first clue what he was on about. An electro-what? What was one of those and what was it doing in his chest? What did the shrapnel have to do with anything. She didn't realise she was shaking, let alone making a noise until Tony had his arms around her, his face buried in her hair.

"It's gonna be ok." He said softly, wondering why he was saying it if he didn't know it to be true or not. "It will. Rhodey's alive, I know it. He'll come get us." He pulled back a bit, still looking scared as hell and cupped her cheek, frowning a little. "You've got a cut on your head, are you ok? Do you feel sick?"

She had to laugh at this. The guy had a freaking chunk of metal sticking out of his chest, not to mention tons of the stuff  _in_  his chest, and he was asking if she was ok? She shook her head and sniffed, wiping her nose quickly. "I'm fine. I'm not hurt at least. I don't even remember how I got that. Here, they brought this in a few hours ago, but it should still be ok." She handed him one of the bowls of stew and shrugged. "I know it's not exactly gourmet cuisine, but it's all we've got."

The sight of the food made him want to hurl again, and he quickly put the bowl down. He was about to ask her how long he'd been unconscious for when a clunking sound from the doorway made them both turn, Tony instinctively squaring his shoulders to block Pepper from view. The door opened quickly and five men, four holding rifles – his fucking rifles – stepped through it, the fifth man, unarmed, standing at the front. For a moment they just stood there, pointing the guns at Tony and Pepper, but then the unarmed man, clearly the leader, barked something in a different language and two of them marched forwards. Tony tried his best to look threatening, but it was no use. He was still weak from whatever surgery he'd had to put the magnet in his chest, not to mention hardly mobile thanks to the lump of a car battery, and so their captors found it pleasantly easy to smash the butt of a gun into his head and pin him to the floor with it at the back of his neck while the other grabbed Pepper and dragged her to her feet. Tony wasn't a fighter in any case, always using a number of hefty bodyguards to wilt any potential attacker, and although the blow to the head had hurt, it was Pepper's muffled squeak as she was yanked away from him that hit him hardest.

"No! Let her go!" he yelled, fighting for his life to free himself. The man pinning him down yelled something back at him and pressed the gun harder against his shoulders, but Tony couldn't care less. "Don't you fucking touch her!"

Pepper struggled as well, but the man holding her jammed the gun against her ribs and she let out a quiet sob, stumbling after him as he led her out of the room, slamming the metal door shut behind him. Seeing that Tony wasn't about to give up on his efforts to free himself, the leader of the group clicked his fingers and the man pinning Tony down immediately let him go, hauling him up to his feet and onto the tiny bed, dumping the car battery on the table next to it.

"Tony Stark." The leader said with a thick, Middle Eastern accent. "So nice of you to visit."

By this point Tony was livid, but there was very little he could do, even if there weren't three guns pointed right at him. He clenched his fists on his knees, staring at his captor. "What the hell do you want with me?"

The man smiled, and Tony caught a glint of a single gold tooth. "Well, as you may have noticed, we have acquired a few of your older weapons, with the exception of one or two new ones, and we feel we need an upgrade." He reached inside his jacket and pulled out a photograph, handing it to him. Tony took it and blanched. It was a picture of the Jericho, the very missile he'd been demonstrating a matter of hours ago. He looked back up at the man, fear creeping down his spine. These men knew exactly what they were doing. They knew what they wanted and exactly how to get it. But Tony may have been a lot of things, but a traitor he was not. He flung the picture back and held the man's gaze as it fluttered to the floor, setting his jaw.

"I refuse."

The man's smile dropped and he sighed heavily, shaking his head as he reached behind him. For a brief moment, Tony was afraid he was asking for a gun, seemingly finding Tony of no use to him, but his fear turned to confusion when one of the gunmen handed him a walkie-talkie.

"I had a feeling you might say that." The ringleader said and spoke into the walkie-talkie. There was a sound of a man's voice, and then a fumbling noise. Tony didn't see how this was supposed to persuade him at first until the male on the other end of the line yelled something and there was a whimper, followed by a very feminine scream. Tony's eyes widened and as Pepper screamed again, he stood up. Immediately the gunmen behind the ringleader stepped forward, yelling at him, but Tony held his hands up in terror, chest heaving.

"Stop! Stop, I'll do it! Please!" he begged. The man smiled cruelly and spoke into the walkie-talkie again. There was a soft sob and then static as whoever was on the end of the line tuned out, and Tony could head the faint sound of a heavy door being slammed shut. Praying this meant that Pepper had been left alone, he let out a small breath, shaking with fear and anger.

"I will bring a man to help you, and you will tell him what you need." The man said, bending to pick up the Jericho picture and stowing it back in his pocket. "And if you try anything...well, it's been such a long time since my men have seen a white woman. Such a delicacy." He flashed an evil smile and winked at Tony before turning and heading back to the door, the gunmen backing out of the room with him.

 


	4. Four

Pepper's journey was, once again, a lot worse once she was away from Tony. After being dragged out of the room and down the hall, she was pretty much thrown into her own, smaller room, her guard following her in and slamming the door. Back home, Pepper was known to everyone as someone who wouldn't take any bullshit from anyone, she'd always stand her ground, and never one to disappoint, she didn't waste any time before trying to dodge around the guard, bringing her knee up to his crotch as he tried to grab her. She thought she'd gotten the upper hand when she heard a small 'oof', but quickly realised he'd stopped her knee inches from its target and had kept hold of it. He pushed her backwards and she stumbled back into the wall of her cell with a thud, the wind knocked out of her. The guard was on her in an instant, his face pressed close to hers and a dangerous look in his eyes, and she understood precisely why she'd been kept alive and taken along with Tony. She was bait.

She'd braced herself for whatever it was her guard was going to do, but the static of his walkie-talkie interrupted him, and she breathed a sigh of relief, thinking he was going to be called away. She was dead wrong. She heard the unmistakable voice of their 'host' on the other end of the line and watched as the man in front of her left the line open but stowed the walkie back on his belt. Her confusion didn't last long, however, because all of a sudden she'd been spun around and was facing the wall, letting out a small sob in the process as one of her arms was pulled back behind her. Her attacker mumbled something in her ear and then barked at her, yanking her arm at an impossible angle, and she screamed. Pepper Potts never screamed. She yelled, sure, but she wasn't so girly that she needed to scream, but whatever the man had done to her arm caused the worst pain she'd ever felt to course through her entire body, not only the limb he was holding. He'd bent her wrist up and was pressing on her elbow from the wrong direction, ensuring the perfect method to shatter the bone if he continued applying pressure like he was. She kept screaming, in too much pain to even cry, when suddenly it was over. He'd released her arm and she sank to the floor, cradling her throbbing arm to her chest and barely registering the guard walking out of the room.

Tony had spent the last hour doing nothing but pacing, which wasn't easy considering he had to lug the battery around the entire time. His mind was working overtime, wondering what exactly they'd done to Pepper to get her to make those horrifying noises, wondering where she was now and praying she was ok. He'd just completed his ninety-third lap of his dismal surroundings when a shout came from the doorway and the heavy bolts on the other side slid back, the door itself creaking open. An older man wearing a smart but filthy suit, thick spectacles and sporting Friar Tuck style hair entered, hands behind his head, followed by a lone gunman with the rifle to his back. Once the man was far enough in, the gunman jabbed the gun into his back, causing him to stumble and fall to the floor, before backing out and the door was closed once more. Tony stared at the man, not even bothering to help him up. He had no idea if the guy was there to help or hinder him, and he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to find out. The man struggled to his feet and dusted himself off, once he was upright, smiling awkwardly.

"They don't have many standards on manners, do they?" he sighed, speaking with a slight Middle Eastern accent and walking towards Tony, who involuntarily stepped back. The older man smiled kindly. "Don't worry, Mr Stark. My name is Ho Yinsen, I'm here to help."

A weight immediately lifted from Tony's shoulders and he sighed with relief. "Are...are you military? Special Ops? Feds?"

Yinsen stared at Tony and then laughed awkwardly, shaking his head and scratching the back of his head. "You misunderstand me. I'm here to help you build the missile."

The weight that had vanished came thundering back, slamming into Tony's guy and knocking the little hope he had left out of him. He felt his legs give way and he sank onto the dingy bed, carefully laying the battery down on the floor before putting his head in his hands. They were lost. No one was coming for them. They were going to die here, and worse than all that was the feeling that everything that was happening to Pepper was all his fault. He'd dragged her out here, and now she was paying the price for his petulance and stubbornness.

Yinsen felt decidedly out of place. He'd been part of the Ten Rings for longer than he could remember, though not by choice, and he knew what the man in front of him was going through. There was a time when Yinsen had first been taken when he thought he'd be rescued, but the reality was that this was where he would die. No one would come for him, no one would come for Tony either. They were too well hidden amongst the elements, not to mention the rabbit warren of caves and tunnels within the mountains surrounding them. Even if escaping was an option, it would take months to learn all the potential passageways out of the mountain.

"We need to get to work." He said by way of alleviating the tension. "They want you to compile a list of materials you will need as well as supplies and-"

"I want Pepper." Tony interrupted, looking up and staring Yinsen dead in the eye. "I won't do a thing until Pepper's back here. Unharmed."

Yinsen sighed, amused slightly by the man's stubbornness. Most men would have caved and gotten on with the task at hand, but he could see that Tony Stark was not most men. He nodded and pulled a small pad and pen out of his waistcoat pocket. "I will ask them when they come back, but for now, we need to create a list to give them, or they won't compromise. Trust me."

Tone snorted and slumped back against the wall, his cocky attitude having come back once he realised Yinsen wasn't a threat. "Oh yeah? Why exactly should I trust you?"

"Maybe because I'm the reason you're still alive." Yinsen said, raising an eyebrow and pointing at the magnet in Tony's chest with his pen. "I'm the one who performed surgery on you and implanted the magnet in your chest. Using your own research, I might add."

"Technically it's Reed Richards' research." Tony muttered, finding the older man more curious by the second. Did he know who he was to a greater extent than their captives?

"Well, yes." Agreed Yinsen. "But Richards' theory was only brought to light by your technology. If it wasn't for you, the surgery could never have been performed."

Tony smiled a little. "Finally, a fan." He chuckled. "You know, you look familiar. Have we met before?"

Yinsen nodded, stowing the notepad and pen away and grabbing an upturned bucket to sit on. "We have, however you were exceptionally drunk at the time. You were leading a lecture, I'm surprised you made it through it if I'm quite honest."

Tony snorted, scratching the back of his head. "Yeah, well, you only live once, right?"

Yinsen smiled widely and nodded towards the magnet again. "I think you've just proved that wrong."

* * *

Pepper had finally managed to sleep, at least for a short while and only because she was too exhausted to do anything else. She woke with a start when her door slammed shut again, looking around with wide eyes and swallowing harshly when her gaze finally settled on the boy – he couldn't have been older than sixteen – before her. He was tall, scruffy looking in every sense of the word, and though he didn't have a gun, she was still wary. He was, however, carrying a tray, and Pepper could smell more of that awful stew stuff than had been brought to her the previous day. The same day? She couldn't tell any more. The days and hours were blending into one. She wasn't even sure how long they'd been there. The boy stepped forward, and Pepper noticed he looked very nervous. He bent and laid the tray of food at her feet and then backed away into the corner, watching her. Pepper didn't move a muscle, but her manners kicked in before she could think and she mumbled a thank you.

"You're welcome." Said the boy, his accent heavy.

Pepper stared at him. "You speak English?" the boy nodded and Pepper felt a small wave of relief wash over her for some reason. "Can you help me?"

The boy shook his head, chewing on his lip. "I'm a prisoner too." He whispered. "They killed my parents and brought me here when I was twelve. But I'm not like them. I hate them."

Pepper nodded quickly, not wanting the boy to think she was offended by him just because he was forced to do their bidding. "It's ok. I hate them too. What's your name?"

"Asim." Mumbled the boy. "What's yours?"

"Pepper." Said Pepper, smiling at the look on Asim's face. "Do you think my name's funny?"

Asim nodded. "I've never heard a name like it before. You're mother named you that?"

Pepper shook her head, finding that talking to Asim was making her feel calmer than she had in days. "No, my mother named me Virginia, but Tony, the man that was brought in with me? He calls me Pepper."

Asim blushed at this and smiled shyly. "Where I come from, if a man calls a woman by a name that no one else does, that means she is his. That he would like to marry her."

Now it was Pepper's turn to blush and she ducked her head, fighting to keep the smile off her face. Obviously, she wasn't unaware of Tony's affections towards her, but she'd never really thought it stretched beyond what it was, a longing for a certain portion of her anatomy, and she wasn't going to deny that she often had the exact same feelings for him, but that was also coupled by romantic feelings, and these were the ones that had gotten her where she was now, locked in a cave talking to a ragamuffin with a still very painful arm. The problem was, she wasn't sure that Tony didn't feel the same. She remembered him struggling against the man holding him down when she was dragged away, and although part of it was most definitely spur of the moment heroics – she was the only thing he had in the entire place that connected him back home and if he lost her, he lost the outside world – he'd seemed so determined to get to her, to fight for her...the thought sent a shiver down her spine. She finally looked up at Asim and saw the boy was still smirking.

"Are you hungry?"

For the next half hour or so, they shared the stew Asim had brought in with him, talking a little about the caves, the men that worked in them and the organisation that was holding them captive. Asim told her they called themselves the Ten Rings, and also informed her the man she had the pleasure of meeting a few hours ago wasn't actually the leader.

"He's the head of his pack." Asim said, scraping his grubby fingers around the edge of the nearly empty bowl. "But he has a boss man. I see him sometimes, he's not a nice man, but he's not even the leader of the Ten Rings."

Pepper was about to ask who was, when the door opened again and the pack leader walked through the door. Pepper found that now she knew he wasn't the big bad, she was able to stand a little straighter around him. He looked at her, and then to Asim, scowling.

"Asim! Get back down to the kitchen, you rat!" he barked, making the poor boy jump a foot in the air and scurry past him, yelping as the leader stuck out a leg and tripped him, laughing cruelly. "Mr Stark has requested your presence." He said once Asim had left, stepping forward a little and holding a length of rope. "Apparently you're a little feistier than you led us to believe." He said with a smirk, grabbing her hands roughly and binding them together with the rope before tugging her out of the cell.

Things had progressed a little in Tony's cave. Yinsen had managed to convince him that it was in his and Pepper's best interests to, at least for now, go along with what their captors demanded. Tony could only agree, he didn't want to be the cause of any more pain to Pepper, and although he'd made a long list of parts and equipment he needed to start building the Jericho, he found his mind wondering more and more to the thought of Pepper. He hoped she was ok.

It seemed someone was reading his mind, because not five seconds later the door was thrown open and Pepper was shoved inside, hands still bound and barely keeping on her feet at she stumbled forwards. Tony was quickly out of his seat to catch her, barely suppressing a sob of relief at the sight of her. He managed to undo the tight knots binding her wrists together and once she was free, he cupped her cheeks and stared into her eyes. She didn't look that much more roughed up, but he'd heard her scream and he needed to be sure. "Are you ok?" he asked softly. After a moment she nodded, eyes tearing up slightly, and Tony pulled her into a hug, burying his face in her neck. "I'm so sorry I dragged you into this." He mumbled. "I never should have made you come with me."

Pepper hugged him back tightly, relieved to be back with him, to know he was okay, but his words hit her hard and she swallowed harshly.

"This is –not- your fault." She said firmly against his ear, forcing him to hear her. "I knew working for you wouldn't exactly be a walk in the park, so..." she pulled back a little and framed his face with her hands, gazing into his eyes. "It's going to be okay, Tony. It will."

She had a knack of being able to reassure him, she'd always been able to do it, not that he often needed reassuring as cocky as he was, but the conviction behind her words hit home and he nodded slightly. He didn't feel any less guilty, but knowing she wasn't blaming him for any of this made him feel a tiny bit better. Not to mention the fact that she was _right there_ , her hands on his cheeks and her breath mingling with his, his own hitching slightly.

And then pain. Immense pain, ripping through his chest and causing him to buckle, doubling over and gasping for breath, feeling like a thousand razors were jamming into his lungs with every attempt. Pepper gasped and covered her mouth with her hands, terrified and at a loss as to what to do and how to help him, but Yinsen was already at Tony's side, helping him over to the huge metal boxes she'd seen when she'd first been shoved into the cave.

"Wh-what's wrong with him?" Pepper asked, voice bordering on hysteria, suddenly realising she didn't even know the man at Tony's side and if he was indeed helping and not killing Tony. "Who are you?"

Yinsen was too busy to answer her straight away, hooking the an extra set of cables from the battery up to one of the metal boxes and twiddling a dial on it before flicking a switch and giving it a hefty kick. Immediately, the box started to rattle and shudder, whirring into life. Tony drew a deep, ragged breath and then slumped against it, visibly relaxing as his breathing grew easier. Pepper crouched down at his side and smoothed his hair back, soothing him as best she could.

"The thing in his chest, the electro-magnet, it needs charging to be able to work properly." Yinsen said, adjusting another dial before stepping back and watching Tony as he 'recharged'. "It needs to be charged for about three hours at least once a week. My name is Yinsen, by the way. I'm the doctor who put the device in his chest."

Pepper swallowed, her hands shaking as they threaded through Tony's hair. "Why did you do that in the first place?"

"Long story, Potts." Tony mumbled, cracking an eye open. "Don't worry though, I'm alright. I'll recharge, then we can get to work and get the hell out of here."

Pepper frowned. "Get to work? Doing what exactly? Have you got an escape plan?"

Tony shook his head and groaned softly as a small surge ran through the battery. "N-no, they want me to build them something. A missile."

At this, Pepper laughed. Both Tony and Yinsen stared at her, but she couldn't help it. Tony Stark, contracted weapons supplier to the DoD and every branch of the United States Military, was expected to build the terrorists a weapon? It was ludicrous. "You're not going to, though. Right?" she asked, expecting a resounding no. When no answer came, she stopped laughing and just stared right back at him. "Tony...you can't!" she snapped at him. "The things they can do with that missile far outweigh anything they can do to us in here."

It was at this point that Tony realised just how much shit he was in. Clearly she hadn't gathered, and they hadn't told her, that she was the punching bag for his disobedience. If he said no, she'd take the brunt of their displeasure, and though it'd been physical violence this last time, he wasn't so sure they'd keep to that particular theme.

"That's a risk I'm willing to take." He said gruffly, closing his eyes and feeling more exhausted by the second.

Pepper shook her head in disbelief. "Tony...you never do as you're told, this is a really shitty time to start!" when her attempt at humour failed, she set her jaw and simply glared at him. "Look, I know that you think you're very important, and most of the time I might be inclined to agree with you, but there are innocent lives you'd be taking if you built that missile. One person's death- whether it's mine or yours or both- is a small price to pay to save them."

He knew exactly what she was thinking the moment she spoke. She thought he was being selfish, a scared little boy, when that simply wasn't the case. He didn't really care what they did to him. They needed him alive in order to do this, it was her he was scared for. They'd already blown him up, beaten him and shoved a giant magnet in his chest, but when he heard her scream he felt like his whole world was collapsing around him, and he'd do anything if it meant he never had to hear her make that sound again, even if it meant he became a terrorist.

But luckily, he'd spent the last twenty or so years playing up on his asshattery – he was quite the Olympian – and so if it was asshole Tony she wanted, asshole Tony is what she would get. "I'm not going to just sit here while they torture us to death, Pepper." He growled. "How many rescue teams have come through here for us? None. No one cares, they're gonna leave us here to rot."

If looks could kill, he was pretty sure even the electro-magnet wouldn't have brought him back from the one Pepper was giving him. He almost crumbled, but managed to hold his ground. Barely.

"Tony Stark." Pepper said slowly. Dangerously. "You've been called a genius your entire life, and it's about damn time you lived up to it and found us a way out of here, because if you built that missile, I'll..." she paused and swallowed, making him believe she meant her next words. "I'll let them do what they want to me. I'll hand myself over. Do you hear me?"

And so Tony was stuck. He was literally between a rock and a hard place. If he didn't build the Jericho, they would take her, but if he did, she'd let them take her without a fight. Damned if he did and damned if he didn't. He stared her down for a few seconds before working his jaw, too angry to continue arguing with her. "Fine. You wanna play hero? We'll play hero." And with that he turned away from her. He was acting like a prick, but it wasn't like she wasn't used to it.

Pepper felt a small surge of relief, even if he was being a child about it. He had to see that doing as they were demanding simply wasn't an option. Too many people would die at their hands if he did build the missile, and she couldn't live with herself if that happened. Feeling that Tony probably wanted to be on his own, she got up and went to sit by the fire that Yinsen had set up a short while ago, sitting on the sandy floor and leaning against the trough. She tried to listen as Tony and Yinsen talked about this and that, mainly about the procedure they'd gone through to implant the magnet, but she found her eyes growing heavy. She felt a hell of a lot safer now that she was back with Tony, even if he couldn't move properly and the other guys had guns. She drifted quickly, lulled by the sound of Tony's voice.

She'd been right when she said Tony never listened, and true to form he hadn't started. As soon as he saw Pepper was asleep, he and Yinsen started talking specifics of the missile, going over their lists and planning where to set up, as well as Tony's ideas for a portable magnet while he was working – carrying a battery wasn't exactly convenient when you needed both pairs of hands. They both decided that the chest piece was probably priority, and using some parts that had already been brought in, they set to work making it.

It was hours before Tony completed it. He was fairly certain, going from his body clock, that it was nearly daybreak, and he needed to get some sleep or he'd be useless the next day. Yinsen had dozed off a while back after checking and re-checking their specs for Tony's brand new Arc Reactor in his chest. It was already working a lot better than the battery had been, the power output alone almost a hundred time stronger, not to mention it would never need re-charging. Struggling to his feet, he stretched, his spine popping obnoxiously, and made his way over to the bed, grabbing one of the blankets off the end of it and laying it out on the floor before slumping down onto it, draping his arm over his eyes and closing them.

"I hope you don't think you're sleeping there." Tony smiled a little as Pepper's voice came out of the darkness, hushed so not to wake Yinsen.

"Now what kind of gentleman would I be if I kicked a lady out of her bed?" he asked, removing his arm and opening his eyes to find Pepper sitting up and gazing at him. Or at his chest. She sank to her knees beside him and reached out for it, almost hypnotised by its blue glow.

"What's this?" she asked softly.

Tony swallowed, half watching her hand and half watching her face. She looked more beautiful than he'd ever seen her, bathed in the soft blue light. "It...it's an Arc Reactor. Like the one powering the factory." He mumbled.

Pepper's fingers traced around the smooth metal edges and she had a hard time believing he'd managed to create this out of absolutely nothing. She shook her head in amazement and her eyes caught his. "We can take turns in the bed. You've been working, I've been sleeping. It's only fair."

Tony snorted, shaking his head but still captivated by her. "If that's what we're basing this on, I think you've got about ten years of work over me." He chuckled softly. "Seriously, I'm fine here. I've slept in worse hotels."

She smiled at him, joining in his laughter. If she could have picked anyone to be kidnapped with, she would have picked Tony just based on his sense of humour. He had the ability to calm her down and make a joke out of anything, and though she always snubbed his innuendoes, she was grateful for them now. "Then we'll share the bed. Don't argue, we both need to rest to stay healthy. Come on."

He sighed. She really wasn't going to give up. He briefly wondered as he stood up what had happened to the old Tony Stark, the one who would have jumped into the bed without even asking, but he quickly brushed the thought from his mind. He wouldn't have ever done that to Pepper. He respected her too much. "Ok Potts, but no monkey business. I don't put out on the first date." He could still have a joke even if he respected her, right?

Pepper laughed softly and laid back down as Tony slid under the covers. The bed really was tiny, so much so that Tony promptly gave up on trying to form any kind of respectable barrier and simply slung his arm around her waist, his chest to her back. She snuggled deeper under the thin blankets but she was shivering. "How can it be so cold in the freaking desert?"

"It's mainly the lack of cloud cover." Tony supplied instantly, unable to stop himself. "Low humidity, no moisture around, that sort of thing. All the heat just rises back up...Jesus Pepper, you're freezing." He sat up again, unbuttoning what was left of the shirt he'd been wearing and tucked it around her thin frame, snuggling back up to her and pulling her back against his chest. "Sorry. About the Arc I mean. I know it's sticking out at an angle."

Pepper pretty much melted as soon as she realised he was giving her his shirt and she smiled widely, taking a deep breath, her head swimming at his scent. She shook her head at his comment and looked back over her shoulder at him, face mere inches from his. "Tony, you made this here, of all places- so what if it's sticking out at an angle? It's keeping you alive. That means everything to m-" she stammered, blushing slightly-  _get it together, Potts_ , "to us right now. You're the ticket out of here, remember?"

He opened his mouth, ready to jump on her slip up, but this was neither the time nor the place, and for once that meant something. He sighed softly and nodded, his goatee brushing against her ear. "Just don't want to make it any worse." He felt the tension she was carrying and gently brushed his fingers over her arm. "I'll keep you safe, I promise."

His words made her heart skip a beat, and that plus the sheer amount of heat he was exuding made her eyelids grow heavier with every passing second. "I know you will. I believe you."

As Pepper's breathing evened out, he tightened his arm around her and strained his ears. He could begin to hear movement and voices outside the cave, and he wanted to be fully awake and ready if anything happened. He wasn't about to let them take her again, not when he could now fight them if he had to. He might lose, but he'd make sure he didn't go easy. But clearly Pepper wasn't having any of it. She snapped out of her doze as he tightened his grip on her, and she realised he was forcing himself to stay awake. Without questioning it she lifted a hand to his cheek, tracing the bruising around his eyes from lack of sleep with a soft sigh. "You need to sleep, Tony," she told him, "I need you. I can't do this if you're sick."

He swallowed but didn't take his eyes off the door until he was sure whoever was outside it wasn't about to storm in. Tony relaxed a little when he felt Pepper's gentle fingertips on his cheek and he was suddenly overcome with exhaustion. His eyelids drooped a little and he hugged Pepper a little closer.

"Just five minutes." He mumbled as his eyes closed properly. "Gotta keep watch. Gotta...not taking you."

She blinked at him as he dropped off, her whole body warming- down to her toes, and not because of the blanket. He was worried about them taking her and he had said nothing about himself. Had she misjudged him?

She was halfway to figuring out that he'd been a stubborn asshole on her behalf when sleep overtook her once more.


	5. Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains possible triggers. Mentions of rape and torture.

It had been a couple of days, and they hadn't seen any more of the pack leader. In fact, their only contact with the people holding them hostage was when they brought in the supplies Tony had requested, and of course their meals. But it hadn't stopped Tony and Pepper arguing. Tony hadn't hidden the fact that he planned to build the Jericho missile for them if it meant they would be freed, despite the fact that neither Pepper or Yinsen believed that to be true. No way in hell would they be released. They would be killed once the Ten Rings had taken all they could. They would be excess baggage. Witnesses to their war crimes. They would be executed, if they were kind. Frankly, Tony didn't want to think about the other possibilities. He, at least, would be of some use to the bastards if they decided to keep him, but what had they said about Pepper? ' _It's been a while since my men have seen a white woman_.' He shivered every time he thought about those words and the implications behind them. He prayed that his compliance would mean Pepper would be safer, plus he really didn't expect her to take up her threat of handing herself over.

For a genius, he was a real idiot.

A week passed, and Pepper and Tony barely spoke. His plans had come on strong and he was moments away from starting the build, and Pepper was furious. She would spend the entire day glaring holes into the back of his head as he worked, and even Yinsen was starting to feel uncomfortable around them. They still slept in the same bed, but only because, although he'd never told her, Pepper had nightmares. He'd actually attempted to sleep on the floor again after they had their first official fight over his plans, but he woke with a start when the blanket landed on his head and he realised she'd kicked it completely off herself and that she was thrashing in the throes of a nightmare. When she wouldn't wake up, he snuggled up behind her in the bed and wrapped his arms around her, whispering softly into her ear until she finally calmed. He hadn't let her sleep alone since, and on the odd occasion that she would start having a bad dream, he'd calm her down again.

It was the morning of the eight day in captivity when things took a turn for the worse. Tony had gotten an early start and had begun the basic elements of assembling the missile, re-checking his plans and making sure he had everything he needed. He didn't heard Pepper come up behind him. That was something else that had developed in the small space of time they'd been forced to cohabit – she was unable to stay asleep once he'd left the bed. Every single morning, he'd woken up first and even though he'd been as gentle as humanly possible in getting out of the bed, she still woke up minutes later. Like she knew he was up to no good. Tony-sense.

"So you're really going to build it?" she asked softly, standing a few feed behind him. Sensing this to be the beginning of an argument more than an open discussion, Tony sighed but didn't look away from his plans.

"Unless you've got a better idea." He shot back, and he could just imagine the look she was giving him.

"How about not making it?" she suggested flippantly. "Tony, will you just think about what making that missile will mean? Not just for us, but for whoever they're going to aim the thing at. It'll probably be us! Think about it, by the time they actually use that thing, they could be aiming it at us. At Rhodey even."

This made him stop what he was doing. They hadn't mentioned Rhodey's name, purely because neither of them were a hundred percent sure that he was even alive after the attack. But Tony played along with her theory. "Well it's a good thing Rhodey can handle himself."

"You'll be a traitor to your country." She said, her voice quavering. "If they even do let us go. You'll be a war criminal. You'll be arrested, they'll put you in prison, you'll lose everything, Tony."

Tony sighed again and ran a hand through his hair, "You're being ridiculous, Potts. They'll realise it was my only option. I have to get us out."

"You'll lose me." Pepper said softly, her voice quavering. Tony span in his seat at this, staring at her.

"What?" he asked, voice also low. "You...you can't be serious."

Pepper let out a derisive laugh and wiped at her eyes, looking away from him for a moment. "I've never been so serious in my life." She snapped. "If you do this, Tony, if you build this missile, I'm done. I'll never be able to look at you the same way after knowing you could do something like this. I don't have it in me to hate you. Don't make me."

He felt his heart cracking at her words. She couldn't even look at him anymore, and he was fast losing the ability to remain calm through all of it. But he didn't have time to dwell on what was happening because there was yelling coming from the other side of the door almost instantly the bolt drew back and the pack leader walked through it, flanked by two gunmen.

"Stark! Good to see you again." He said with a soft laugh. "My men tell me you've been busy arranging plans and getting all the parts ready, does that mean you're ready to tell me something?"

"I actually want to say something." Pepper said, stepping forward slightly, a dead look in her eyes. Tony caught her arm and turned her to face him again, gaping at her.

"Pepper, what the hell are you doing?" he whispered.

Pepper yanked her arm out of his grasp, glaring at him like he'd just slapped her. "I told you in the beginning, if you went ahead with this, I'd turn myself over to them. I can't even look at you right now, and in my personal opinion, they're the ones with the morals here."

Tony was panicking. He'd never actually thought she was serious, but yet here she was, about to throw herself to a pack of ravenous dogs. And it was his fault.

"Well?" the leader asked, gazing in confusion between the both of them. Pepper sighed deeply and took another step forward, but Tony pulled her back and stood in front of her, chest heaving.

"I refuse." He said, trying to convince his vocal cords that he felt as brave as his words indicated. "I'm not building the missile. Sorry boys."

A look of bewilderment flashed across the leader's face for a moment, followed by rage. He snapped his fingers and before Tony could even think, Gunman Number One had stepped forwards and slammed the butt of his gun into Tony's stomach, causing him to double over in pain and slump to his knees. Pepper let out a gasp and hurried forwards to help him, but Gunman Number Two was already at her side, grabbing her arms and forcing a gag into her mouth and binding her hands behind her back. She struggled vigorously but she was no match for the stronger man. He dragged her back to the leader, who chuckled and reached out to brush his knuckles across Pepper's cheek as Number One yanked Tony's head up by his hair, forcing him to watch.

"Clearly," the leader said, never taking his gaze from Pepper's face. "Threatening her only once didn't do the trick. So..." the man holding her forced her to kneel on the floor, her knees hitting the sand with a crack. The leader brushed his jacket to one side and pulled a gun out of a holster on his belt, pointing it at Pepper's head. "Either you agree and build our missile, or I shoot her. Right here, right now."

Pepper hadn't taken her eyes from Tony's the entire time. She was staring at him desperately, small whimpers the only noise she could make through the gag. And Tony was beside himself. He knew she was pleading with her eyes for him to stay strong, to refuse, and so he shook his head a little and whispered a 'no'. The leader sighed and pulled the hammer back on the gun.

"Last chance, Stark. One."

Tony struggled a little against his captor, but the man was holding his arms as well as his hair.

"Two." The leader pressed the gun hard against the side of Pepper's head and against her will, she let out a small yelp, closing her eyes. "Three."

"Stop!" Tony bellowed, struggling furiously with the man holding him back. "Don't! I'll do it, I'll do it, please just stop!"

The leader smiled and released the hammer of the gun, setting it back safely in its holster and clapping his hands together. "Now that's what I like to hear, Stark. Good choice." He beamed at Tony and then nodded at the man holding him back, who promptly let him go, but only so he could raise the gun and bring it down with a crack to the side of Tony's head, knocking him out cold. Pepper let out a muffled yell and thrashed from where she was held down and her captor laughed evilly. The leader grabbed her roughly by the arm, yanking it at a painful angle to bring her to her feet while the man who'd been holding her previously went to help his friend drag Tony from the cave. "You'd better hope he doesn't try to play hero again, my dear." Said the leader, stroking her cheek and giving her a terrifying smile. "Because next time I won't reach three." He pushed her face away, causing her to stumble towards the door. "Maybe taking you away will teach him a lesson."

She was pushed through the tunnels in the cave, flinching away from the men lining the walls as they reached out for her, all the while followed by the leader, laughing like it was some kind of game. Finally, they reached another room and she was shoved inside, the door slammed shut behind her. At first, she thought that was the end of it, that she'd simply been taken away from him. But in a small part of her mind, she knew that wasn't all she'd have to endure, and it became a reality when the door was opened a short while later and one of the gunmen, minus the gun but an evil smile in its place, entered. He advanced on her slowly and she backed away, eyes flitting around the room for a possible escape until her back hit the wall and she let out a small whimper, squeezing her eyes shut as the man pounced.

* * *

Tony knew a lot about water torture. His Dad had given him books to read on World War II, and one particular Japanese method had featured quite heavily, so when he saw the trough he was being dragged head first towards, he knew what was coming. He thrashed madly as he tried to break free, his lungs burning for oxygen while his head was dunked beneath the water and held there. Just as he was on the cusp of blacking out, his head was wrenched out and he took a long, gasping breath, breathing deeply for a few seconds before he was dunked again. This continued for a good ten or fifteen minutes until he was completely fuzzy, not knowing what was going on. They had to drag him back to the cave. Literally. He was too weak to stand. The heavy metal door swung open and the two guards holding him threw him into the room. He hit the ground with a thud and rolled onto his side, groaning, the dust and sand of the floor sticking to his cold, dripping bare chest. One of the guards shouted at him in Arabic and ran at him, hit boot connecting with Tony's stomach. Tony yelled in pain, curling into a ball as the men laughed and then slammed the door shut, leaving him on the floor. After a moment, he felt two hands on his arms, helping him up to his feet and over to a chair before footsteps hurried away again. He managed to crack his eyes open and see the blurry outline of Yinsen's back. He blinked and his vision cleared. He watched as Yinsen walked slowly towards the bed, where Pepper lay facing away from him, her knees curled up to her chest and his shirt wrapped around her shoulders. He shook his head and groaned at the sensation it caused behind his eyes, squeezing them shut for a moment before opening them again.

"Pepper?" he called, but got no answer. "Pep? You ok?" he struggled to his feet and Yinsen, who'd turned to face him as he called out, hurried back over to him, helping him up but keeping him where he was.

"Leave her, Stark." He said softly. "Let her be."

This only proved to confuse Tony further. Why did he need to leave her alone? What had happened? He shoved Yinsen away none to gently and advanced to where Pepper was curled up on the bed, laying a hand on her shoulder and frowning when she jerked away from him.

"P-Pepper, it's me. It's Tony." He said, his teeth chattering as the cold air bit at his sodden skin and clothes. "Are y-you ok?"

Pepper didn't move. She felt numb. Empty. The bastard had left her where she'd fallen on the floor, arms still tied behind her back, and she couldn't find the energy to move. Yinsen had been called in and he'd had to carry her back to their cave, Pepper crying all the way back. He'd tried to tend to her as best he could, but he knew that the fact he was male was having a bad effect on any treatment he tried to offer. Eventually, she managed to nod slowly and turned to face Tony, wiping her eyes as she did so and gasping at the sight of him.

"Are you?" she asked, momentarily forgetting what had happened and sitting up. He was pale and shivering and looked like they'd tried to drown him. "You look like you need to sit down."

Tony shook his head, cold water flicking from his sodden hair as he did so, and he turned to Yinsen. "What happened? After they took me, what happened?"

Yinsen immediately looked to Pepper, asking silently if he was supposed to tell Tony what had happened, but Pepper shook her head furiously. Unfortunately, Tony saw. He turned as she shook her head and his hackles flared up instantly. His foggy brain processed what evidence he could see and drew up only one conclusion which turned his stomach. He shook his head slowly, breathing heavily before lurching to the 'toilet' – a fancy word for the bucket they'd been given – and emptying what little stomach contentse he had into it. Pepper made a sympathetic noise and reached for him, her aching body protesting as she got up to help him to his feet. "I'm alright." She told him softly. "It's ok, I'm fine."

He jerked away from her and stared, feeling disgusted with his gender and bewildered that she was comforting him after what she'd been through. He stood up abruptly, chest heaving and looked around. After a moment, he stalked towards the metal table that carried a few tools and picked up a huge wrench that had been brought in before hurrying towards the door, lifting the wrench high above his head and bringing it down hard upon the metal panel.

"You sick fucks!" He practically screamed. "I'll kill you! I'll fucking kill you all! Come on, come here and fight you fucking bastards!"

Yinsen hurried forward and tried to pry Tony away, but Tony, who had heard laughter coming from outside the door, flew into a rage unlike anything he'd ever witness. He didn't remember ever being this angry and he went crazy, slamming the wrench again and again into the door and yelling at whoever was behind it. Pepper was in shock, she'd never seen him the angry about anything before, and frankly it terrified her, but a small part of her brain that was still using logic was telling her that the more Tony went wild, the bigger the chance of someone coming in to stop him, and that thought scared her more than what they might do to her at the same time. She hurried forwards, too scared to reach for him as he hammered against the door. She knew how to stop him, but she knew it'd make her feel awful.

"Tony!" she grabbed at his arm, nearly in tears again, scared for him but trying her best to make it look like she was scared for herself. "If you don't stop- if you make them angry they might come back in and...and do it again."

It worked. He stopped hammering on the door immediately and dropped the wrench, the metal hitting the dirt with a dull thud as he span to face her, breathing hard and tears streaming down his face. He slumped against the door and looked away from her, not able to look her in the eye as he sank to the floor, covering his head with his hands as a sob broke free.

"I'm s-sorry." He managed to croak out, rocking slightly. "I'm sorry Pepper."

"Tony..." she let out a small sob as well and knelt in front of him, cupping his cheeks and pulling his head up to force him to look her in the eye, to believe what she was saying. "This is not your fault, okay? Listen to me, you did the right thing. You did. I'm so proud of you." She wound her arms around his neck and shuffled a little closer, trying to stop herself flinching when he hugged her back.

"I promised you I'd keep you safe. I promised, and I couldn't even do that." He hiccupped slightly. "I'm so sorry." He felt her move and squeezed his eyes shut, letting her go. "Forgive me."

The look in his eyes was slowly demolishing her heart and she forced a smile. "Of course I forgive you. There's nothing to forgive. Tony, you did everything you could. It's not your fault."

Tony shook his head and looked away for a moment before wiping his eyes and sniffing, slowly getting to his feet and helping her up, still unable to look her in the eye. "You need to rest. Get back into bed, okay? I'm going to..." he set his jaw and Pepper saw some of the old resolve come back to his eyes. "I'm going to get us out of here."

After a little protest on Pepper's part – mainly that he looked worse off and surely needed to rest more – he managed to convince her to lie down and he got back to work, sweeping his plans for the Jericho off the desk he'd requested a few days ago and grabbing a sheet of paper, sketching furiously, occasionally balling up the paper when his hands shook too much to draw properly. Pepper saw this and after watching him shiver for nearly ten minutes, she got out of bed and walked up behind him, leaning over him and clasping her hands around his, rubbing them to warm them up.

"Your hands are freezing, Tony." She scolded him, bringing them to her mouth and breathing hot air onto them before rubbing again. "Yinsen, do you think you could ask them for some gloves for him next time they come in." Yinsen nodded and Pepper tugged on Tony's hand again. "Come on, you need to rest, and I can't sleep without you."

Tony swallowed and slowly looked up at her. "Pep...I'm not...I can sleep near the bed." He offered, not wanting her to feel like he was a threat. He wasn't sure what he'd do if she ever thought that. But Pepper shook her head and tugged on his hand again.

"I'm not worried about you like that." She said, briefly thinking how obscure it was that she was going to Tony Stark in order to not feel like a piece of meat. "I just...I need to be around someone and not feel like they're going to...to try anything."

There was no way he could say no to that. He sighed and hid his designs before standing and making his way over to the bed. He got in first, purely so Pepper could dictate just how much space to put between them so she wouldn't feel suffocated or trapped, but to his immense surprise, she snuggled up to him as if nothing had happened, looping her arm around his waist and burying her face in his neck. He gently wrapped his arm around her shoulders, his other hand softly tracing patterns on her arm. Pepper closed her eyes and breathed him in, finding his scent easily behind the musty smell of the cold water on his skin.

"Even if we never make it out of here." She whispered, her nose brushing against his neck. "I am so proud of you, Tony."

Tony damn near started crying again. No one had said they were proud of him since he came home with his graduation results from MIT. Only his Mom had said it then, his father had just grunted, but Pepper had said it twice in one night. He sighed shakily and pulled her closer to him. "That makes one of us." He mumbled, nuzzling the side of Pepper's head and closing his eyes, trying to stop himself shivering.

He'd nearly drifted off when he felt Pepper shift in his arms and press a slow, soft kiss to his throat, and because it was such a shock, not only because it was coming from Pepper, but after everything that had happened that day, he jerked back, his eyes searching for hers. Pepper swallowed as she stared up at him, convinced that his reaction was because she was damaged goods, and was halfway through forming an apology when Tony's hand came up and cupped her cheek. He shook his head, stroking her cheek with his thumb.

"Don't you dare apologise for that, Potts." He said hoarsely and rested his forehead against hers. He so desperately wanted to kiss her. He wasn't exactly sure when it had happened – as in he was at least ninety percent sure it had happened before they were kidnapped and he simply hadn't realised it – but he'd fallen in love with her. His heart ached for her every second they were apart, and although they were as close as humanly possible right now, he didn't want her to close off mentally, and kissing her was a sure-fire way of doing that. Even if what had happened hadn't happened, he didn't want her to think he was simply kissing her because she was the only female there. He loved her, and he wanted more than anything to tell her, but this wasn't the time for that either, and she confirmed this by ducking her head again and resting against his chest, to which he tightened his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. They had time, he decided. They had all the time in the world to tell each other how they felt. They just had to be patient. "I'll get us out of here." He said softly. "I'm not breaking that promise.


	6. Six

The months had progressed slowly, and yet at the same time it felt as though no time at all had passed. The attack seemed like yesterday, but the reality was it had been nearly three months. For ninety days, Tony and Pepper had been kept like animals, hardly ever seeing the outside of the cave where they ate and slept. Mainly to keep Pepper safe, Tony had started building the Jericho, but with a few...alterations. He was constantly giving their kidnappers lists of things he needed, parts and tools, and he was convinced that they didn't have the first clue what he was asking for – one thing he'd even asked for being a basic part from a washing machine – and this knowledge gave him the edge. They didn't know how long it was going to take him to build, or what it was supposed to look like during the process, and especially didn't know what kind of explosives were meant to be used or how much, and so Tony asked for everything he could think of, but not to put in the missile. His plan for escape had morphed into something tangible. He was constantly scavenging parts that he was supposed to be using for the missile and putting them to one side, burying them and stowing them away so that late at night, he could continue building it. The suit of armour. His drawings had morphed into what could be classed as a much better weapon than even the Jericho if the terrorists got their hands on it, but that was never going to happen. They'd never find it. Even if they did find it, they'd never be able to make it work. Only Tony could do that, because only Tony had the means to. His Arc Reactor would be the power source, it was perfect. The only problem would be concealing it while he was building it. He'd noticed the cameras on the ceiling within the first few hours in the cave, and by calculating the angles they were pointing at, he judged that the very far wall just past the bed was a huge blind spot, and by assembling and dismantling the suit in such a way that nothing about it looked anything like a suit of armour, he managed to keep it hidden amongst a pile of scrap metal.

Even harder to hide than the suit, though, was his ever growing feelings for the woman he was forced to share the cave with. They'd settled into a kind of horrific husband/wife role-play, Tony went to work all day while Pepper kept house and chatted to Yinsen when the man wasn't helping Tony with something. She brought him water and made him drink it. She called food breaks and he rarely argued. And the rest of the time, she watched him work. The blanket on the floor lay forgotten as every night they ended up snuggled together in the same bed. Nothing more had come of their almost kiss, and Tony respected that, but he was beginning to wonder how much of a struggle it was going to be when they got out and had to go back to normal, because despite the almost kiss, he was pretty sure that's what she wanted. Normality. And for that to happen, as much as it hurt him to think about it, he had to back off. When she was ready, if she ever was, he would be there waiting. She'd waited for nearly ten years for him to quit being an ass, it was only fair.

Pepper had recovered mostly, though she still flinched if Tony moved too quickly or yelled, and Tony definitely noticed when one of the gunmen in particular caused her to tremble where she stood. He realised after this happening a few times that this must have been the bastard that had raped her, and after that Tony made sure he was fully paying attention whenever the man came into their cave. He would create a special feature on the armour for this guy, he decided.

As they passed into their third month of captivity, he could feel it in his bones that the suit was nearly ready. He'd gone over and over the plan with both Pepper and Yinsen – once he was suited up, he would go out first, he would kill anything that moved, and once the coast was clear, he would come back for them both. No matter what. All he need to make the plan a reality was a targeting system that he was going to rig onto the small missile unit he'd placed in one of the arms of the suit, and their captors were working on that for him.

But, as ever, nothing was easy when your name is Tony Stark, and another speed bump came in the form of a man named Raza. This man was the boss, Tony could tell by the way even the ringleader of the terrorist group appeared nervous around him. He came into the cave one night, mere seconds after Tony had finished hiding the nearly completed suit, and Tony, Pepper and Yinsen assumed the positions they'd been instructed to, hands on their heads. Raza was carrying a package, which he placed on the table next to the plans, both for the suit and the missile, which he then picked up and glanced at. Yinsen shot Tony a worried glance, as did Pepper, but Tony shook his head minutely. He'd designed the plans too well, requiring one to be laid over the other in order to see what the final design was, otherwise they just looked like a bunch of technical drawings. After a few moments, Raza laid the plans down and looked up at Tony, hands on his hips as he let out a disappointed sigh.

"Three months, Stark." He muttered. "For three months you have been building my missile, and I am yet to see results. Yet my men tell me you've been toiling away like the dog you are." He looked around at the scraps of metal lying everywhere and the skeleton of the Jericho. "Where is my missile?"

Tony swallowed, flexing his fingers behind his head and shifting a little to the side to block the view of the hastily covered up suit. "I've been waiting on that part." He said, nodding to the package Raza had brought in. "Another week and it'll be done."

Raza laughed and shook his head. "You've got til tomorrow."

Tony set his jaw. "It's not possible. I told you, I need a week."

Raising his eyebrows, Raza indicated to two gunmen to enter the room before motioning to Pepper. "Then maybe we need to use the same incentive as before."

Pepper widened her eyes. Even as little as she understood about machinery she knew that finishing either the missile or the suit was impossible overnight. Even raping her wouldn't be enough- they were asking something of him that even Tony Stark couldn't do. Raza walked a slow circle around her, looking her up and down, and she glared at him, letting him know she wasn't scared of him. And she wasn't. She was terrified. He stopped in front of her and smirked, running his knuckles over her cheek- she shuddered, suppressing a heave.

"Touch her again and I swear to God, I will end you." Tony growled through gritted teeth, glaring at Raza, his hands tightening into fists behind his head and turning his knuckled white. Raza smirked at him and clicked his fingers, indicating to one of his guards to grab Pepper, dragging her towards the door.

"One day, Stark." Raza said, turning and following Pepper. "One day, or she leaves with me."

Tony started walking forwards as the gunmen backed out of the room, calling out to Pepper as she was dragged away. "Pepper? I'm keeping my promise, you hear me?" the door slammed shut and he pounded his fist against it. "I'm keeping my promise!" After a moment he turned to Yinsen, shaking his head and grabbing the package that still laid on the desk, ripping it open and walking towards the suit. "This needs to be done tonight." They set to work immediately. Fitting the targeting system didn't take as long as Tony had thought, but actually starting the thing and making sure everything was working took a lot of time he didn't have. All the time he was thinking of Pepper and praying to whatever deity was watching that the bastards weren't doing it again.

* * *

She was taken to a different part of the caves, through tunnels she hadn't been down before, and unlike the last time the men she passed didn't dare reach out for her. Clearly she was property of the boss now, which did little to comfort her. Raza brought her to what she assumed must be his quarters, given the fact that although it was still a cave, it was more homely. She heard the door shut behind her and she didn't move a muscle, wrapping Tony's ratty shirt tighter around her shoulders and wishing it still smelled like him as Raza circled her, appraising her, and evil look in his eyes.

"I could make this very nice for you." He said softly, coming to a stop by her right side and brushing a strand of hair over her ear so he could whisper into it. "Very nice." Pepper shuddered and repressed the urge to vomit, nodding her head slowly. Raza tutted and tugged on the hair he had hold of. "What was that?" he asked.

She took a ragged breath and swallowed, her voice coming out small and squeaky, giving away just how terrified she was. "Yes. Yes please."

Raza groaned softly and let out a small chuckle, trailing his fingers alone her arm. "Ooh, I like that." He purred. "Say it again." Pepper let out a small, quiet sob and he laughed again, grabbing hold of her chin and tilting her face towards his, close enough that she could smell his rotting breath. "Stark did us a favour bringing you along, didn't he my dear? Yes, very nice indeed."

She wasn't sure what he would have done next if the shouts hadn't come. He was momentarily distracted when he heard his name shouted and then the door flew open, and Pepper took the opportunity to ram her elbow into his stomach and duck under his arm and away from him, backing into the wall and staring at him with wide eyes. Raza let out a grunt when she jabbed him and glared at her, growling as he left the room. "You'll pay for that when I come back, whore." He turned to the grunt that had burst in on them as they walked down the tunnel again. "What the hell is going on?"

"It's Stark, sir." The man said quickly. "We can't find him on the camera."

Raza shot him a searing glare and hurried to the CCTV monitors that were all tuned into the cameras in the cave, glancing at all of them before slamming his fist into the desk. "Where is he? Get down there and find him!"

Immediately, two men sprinted off down the tunnel towards the cave, skidding to a halt outside the heavy metal door and hammering on it. When neither Tony or Yinsen answered their yells, one of the men threw back the bolt and yanked the door open. He had a few seconds to register the sound of a pin being freed from a grenade before he and his friend were blown apart. Raza, who watched all this on the monitors, let out a yell of rage and sprinted back down the tunnels to his room, throwing the door open and advancing on Pepper, pulling out his gun in the process. He grabbed her by the arm and pressed the gun to her head, bending his own to her ear.

"Your boyfriend just killed you." He growled before roughly walking her out of the room.

* * *

It was done. He'd gone over the calibrations dozens of times in his head, and apart from a minor weak point in the gears moving his legs, there was no way these untrained animals could bring him down. He was going to rain fire on them all. Mercy be damned. But because he was strapped into the suit as it was booting up, and because Yinsen was helping him, there was no one in the camera's view, and all too soon they heard voices at the door, yelling at them. Tony had rigged up an explosive to the door and, sure enough, as soon as they tried to open it, they went boom. There was still well over half the boot up process to complete, and more voices could be heard beyond the tunnels.

"There's not enough time." Yinsen muttered, staring from the ancient laptop from which he was trying to boot up the suit, to the blown apart door and back again.

"It's ok." Tony insisted. "It'll be fine, trust me, just stick to the plan."

Yinsen stood up, straightened his suit and looked Tony in the eye. "I'm going to get you some more time. Good bye, Stark." and then he was off, pausing to grab a gun from one of the smoking bodies by the door before pelting along the tunnel, Tony screaming after him all the while. Finally, nearly five minutes later, the boot up was complete, and Tony stepped down from the platform, heading out of the doorway and trying to remember the directions Yinsen had told him. Forty one steps straight ahead, then sixteen from the door, fork right, thirty three steps, turn right. It was like a rabbit warren, and he prayed that it would eventually lead to the damn exit. Tony had never killed anyone in his entire life. Unless of course you counted the amount of time he'd spent on Call of Duty completely owning Rhodey. He'd stayed clear of the field or warfare, only providing weapons for the men who actually did it, but he was surprised at how easy it came to him. Surprised and, quite frankly terrified. The first sign of movement he saw, he fired, bullets ricocheting off the wall behind the man as he fell instantly to the floor. He moved forward, stepping over bodies, some of which he'd caused, others that Yinsen must have. Finally, he came to the opening to the cave, and saw a sight that chilled him to the bone. Yinsen was lying on top of a stack of bags of rice, and they were blood-stained. He lumbered over, his chest heaving. Yinsen's breath was coming is gasps as Tony raised his faceplate.

"Yinsen, you gotta get up, ok?" Tony said, his voice nearly breaking. "We gotta stick to the plan, your family-"

"I am sticking to the plan, Stark." Yinsen rasped, his eyes drooping. "My...my family are dead, I'm going to see them now." He opened his eyes and smiled at Tony. "Don't waste it, Stark. Don't...don't waste..." Yinsen's eyes closed and Tony drew a ragged breath, tightening his fist in anguish.

"Thank you for saving me." He whispered and closed his eyes for a moment.

"Stark!" A voice came from the mouth of the cave and jerked him out of his reverie, followed by a soft, female whimper. Tony span around and his eyes widened as he saw Raza standing at the mouth of the cave, an iron grip on Pepper's arm and a gun pressed to her head. "If you make a single move." Raza snarled. "The whore gets it. Do you understand me? Not one move."

But Tony wasn't paying attention to him, he was staring straight at Pepper. She was giving him that look, the look that clearly said  _get out_. She was telling him without words to escape, to get out without her.

Like. Hell.

He was faced with possibly the worst situation he'd ever been in. If he moved, if he tried to get out, Raza would kill her in front of him, or if he managed to get out without her, there was no telling what hell he'd leave her in. If he gave up, he'd either be killed or kept for torture, and she would still be kept as their play thing. The tracking system worked, he'd practised briefly with it, but Raza was too close. He'd promised he'd keep her safe, and if that meant killing her himself, even if it was to keep her away from these monsters, then that's what he had to do. He focussed the tiny crosshairs in his left eye on Raza's face, took a deep breath, and pressed a button on the inside of his gauntlet, tears streaming down his face as he braced for the worst.

"Pepper...I love you." He called out to her. Pepper let out another sob, her own tears breaking free, and closed her eyes.

The missile launched and Tony watched as if in slow motion as Raza's face went from one of fury to confusion as the tiny rocket aimed straight for him. He let out a cry of pain as the rocket caught and then penetrated his shoulder, flying straight through the other side and sending him spinning away from Pepper and into the rocky wall behind them, his head slamming into it. He slumped to the floor, face down and blood pouring from his body and head, and Pepper let out a small gasp, her hands clapping to her mouth. She stared at Raza for a moment before spinning to face Tony, pulling her hands away and grinning at him.

"Tony..."

Tony was beside himself. Raza was dead, and Pepper was still alive. It had worked. They were free. He grinned back at her behind his mask and took a step forward, turning his head as something moved in his periphery. The man that had raped her was running as fast as he could towards them from the right, gun raised. Clearly realising that Tony wasn't about to let a bullet stop him, his gun was aimed at Pepper, and before Tony could even process what was going on, a shot had been fired. At first, both Tony and Pepper thought he'd missed. Pepper didn't even know anything was wrong until she heard the shot, and then looked down. Blood was seeping through her tattered shirt and she brought her hands up to press against the wound before she fell to the ground. Tony let out an anguished yell and fired a torrent of bullets at the man, ripping him to shreds before hurrying over to Pepper, ripping the armour off himself as he did so, finally crouching down at her side in the pants and shirt he'd started the entire nightmare in.

"Pepper!" he cried out, pulling her up against him slightly and covering her bloodied hand on her stomach, panic setting in as he watched her struggling for breath. "No, no no no, please God, don't do this."

She blinked at him, hazy and still unsure of what had happened. All she knew was that- as she had predicted- she was dying. Slowly. She didn't want to be alone, and that took precedence over wanting Tony to be absent when she died. She grabbed at his arm with the one of hers that still worked, panting slightly. He needed to leave- the armour was off and if he didn't he was going to die. It was enough that she would.

"I love you," she muttered, breaths coming shallower with each second. "You have to go, Tony."

He let out a harsh sob, stroking her hair. "N-no. I'm not...you're not going to die, ok?" He smiled through his tears. "We've been through too much for you to die now." He brought a shaking hand up to her face and brushed her hair away as her breathing slowed, and out of the corner of his eye, something moved. Thinking it was another terrorist, Tony's head snapped up, and he was surprised to find a small boy staring back at him. He then heard a distant sound. A whirring, thuck-thuck-thuck, like a helicopter. But it couldn't be. Pepper turned her head as well as she heard the sound of the helicopter and she blinked in surprise as she saw Asim staring nervously at them. She had to be dreaming this. Asim swallowed and pointed over his shoulder at the military helicopter that was landing mere feet away.

"I brought help." He said softly. With the remaining strength in his body, Tony lifted Pepper into his arms and carrying her out of the cave, following the boy. The helicopter got closer and closer, finally landing in front of them and the door sliding open to reveal Rhodey blinking back at them.

"Where the hell have you been?" He smiled, but then his smile dropped when he saw the blood dripping from Tony's fingers at Pepper's back. "Jesus. Get her in the copter. You too, kid." He said, helping Asim into the copter. "Kelly, get us back to base now! We've got a man down!"

Tony laid Pepper down on the seat as the helicopter took off again, kneeling at her side and trying to keep pressure on the wound as she coughed, tasting blood. She reached out for Tony's arm, making him lean closer. "I love you." She whispered, her eyes drooping. "I love you, and I...I'm so proud of you. No matter what happens. Just as long as you don't turn into an asshat again. Promise me that."

He was barely keeping it together. He could feel her pulse growing weaker by the second beneath his fingertips and he took a ragged breath, brushing the blood from her lip with his thumb before resting his forehead against hers. "You listen to me." He whispered shakily. "Nothing is going to happen, ok? We're going to get to base, the doctor's gonna take a look at you, and everything's gonna be ok, alright?" He smiled reassuringly through his tears. "I love you so much, just hold on. Please, hold on."

Pepper made a soft noise and Tony barely registered Rhodey telling him they were landing again, a fresh wave of tears appearing as Pepper fell unconscious.


	7. Seven

The helicopter had barely touched down before the EMT's swarmed it, dragging Pepper onto a stretcher and wheeling her quickly through into the base. Tony and Rhodey jumped out and jogged after them, Tony keeping hold of Pepper's hand all the way until a doctor stopped him going any further.

"She's going into surgery, we'll come and get you when she's out." The doctor said. Tony ignored him and tried to get past, but Rhodey laid a hand on his shoulder and held him back.

"They're helping her." He said calmly. "You need to get checked out too."

"I'm fine." Tony said gruffly, stepping back and sighing. "I just...the only time she wasn't with me was when..." he set his jaw and shook his head, unable to say it, but Rhodey got the message loud and clear.

"I want a female officer sat outside her door, day and night." He said to the doctor. "No men, got it?" The doctor nodded and hurried off to relay the information and Rhodey turned back to Tony. "She'll be fine, dude. Trust me. Now will you please come and get checked out too?"

Seeing there was nothing more he could do, at least for now, he nodded and followed Rhodey down the hall and into another room, a doctor joining them shortly afterwards. Tony was so preoccupied with what was happening to Pepper, he completely forgot to warn either of them about the device in his chest, so when he took his shirt off, Rhodey let out a yell and the doctor jumped backwards, upsetting the table behind him.

"Tony! Jesus...how do you disarm it?" Rhodey hissed, stepping forward slowly. Puzzled, Tony raised an eyebrow before looking down and realising that Rhodey must have assumed he had a bomb buried in his chest. He smiled a little and shook his head, tapping the Arc, which made Rhodey flinch.

"It's not a bomb, Rhodes." He said, balling his shirt up and dumping it onto the bed next to him. "It's an Arc Reactor. Like the one powering the factory only smaller."

This didn't seem to ease Rhodey's panic, given the way he was staring at Tony. "What the hell is it doing in your chest?"

Tony rolled his eyes. "It's a long story, I promise I'll read it to you before bed, now can we please get this over with so I can go back to worrying about Pepper in peace? Come on Doc." He clicked his fingers at the doctor. "It's safe, I'm not gonna explode." The doctor swallowed nervously, but stepped forward and performed a quick check on Tony. He had a few bruises and a busted rib, but other than that he was fine.

"But I am going to suggest you take some antibiotics for...for that." He motioned to the Arc after handing Tony a set of scrubs to change into. Tony sighed again but nodded, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

"I just want to see Pepper." He said after the doctor had left, looking at Rhodey. "She'll be ok, right?"

Rhodey nodded, laying a hand on his shoulder. "Look, I've seen guys with far worse injuries pull through, and she's a fighter." He smiled. "And she's got probably some of the best doctor's in the world working on her. Of course she'll be fine. Come on, let's go and find you a room and you can have a nap before she comes out."

Tony shook his head. "I'm too wired to sleep. Hey, do you think you could scrounge us up some clothes? We've been wearing the same ones for over three months, so..."

"I'm on it." Rhodey said, clapping Tony's shoulder. "Chin up, dude. She'll be fine."

Tony nodded and let out a breath as Rhodey walked away. He was free to go...but go where? There was no way in hell he was leaving the base, so he resigned himself to sitting outside the doors Pepper had disappeared through, praying that she'd come back through them. It was nearly three hours before the doors opened again and a nurse wheeling Pepper's bed with an unconscious but otherwise ok Pepper on it came into the corridor and Tony shot to his feet.

"Pep?" he called softly, reaching for her hand again as he walked with them. "Is she ok? What happened?"

The nurse smiled kindly and wheeled them into a private room. "She's fine. The surgeons managed to remove the bullet, and it didn't hit any major organs, but it did narrowly miss her spine, so we're going to keep her under watch to make sure there's no lasting damage."

At this, Tony breathed a sigh of relief and slumped into a seat next to her bed, bringing Pepper's hand to his lips and pressing a soft kiss to her knuckles. The nurse left the room, but Tony barely noticed, too focussed on every little move Pepper made. Nurses came in every now and then to check her monitors, but Tony only saw Pepper. Even though she'd pretty much been given the all clear, Tony wasn't going to stop worrying until she opened those beautiful blue eyes and told him to his face that she was ok. Rhodey returned as night fell, a duffel bag in his hand which he dropped by Tony's side and sat next to him.

"Her doctor told me everything went ok." He said softly, watching Tony who still hadn't taken his eyes off Pepper. "A lot happened, huh?"

This caused Tony to snort softly, finally looking at Rhodey for a second before turning back. "You don't know the half of it, man."

Rhodey chuckled and slapped Tony's shoulder. "It only took a few near-death experiences for you two to get your shit together. Well, at least you got there."

"Thanks." Tony said sarcastically, and then a thought his him. "Hey, what's gonna happen to that kid? Pepper told me about him a couple of times, he never wanted to be there in the first place. I want to help him."

Rhodey nodded. "At the minute, he's being checked by the doctors and held here until we can figure out what to do with him, but depending on how old he checks out to be..." he shrugged. "Social services will have to deal with him."

Tony ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "I'll help him whatever way I can. He saved our lives, Rhodey."

"I know, buddy." Rhodey said, smiling for a moment before clearing his throat. "I'm glad to have you back."

Tony turned at this and gave his friend a long, hard look. He'd completely forgotten in all the chaos of getting rescued that Rhodey had been under fire that day three months ago as well, but he couldn't deal with that now. Somewhat awkwardly, they hugged each other and then Rhodey got up to leave, leaning over to kiss Pepper's cheek before he went, leaving Tony alone with his thoughts, still holding onto Pepper's hand.

* * *

The first thing Pepper saw when she woke up was the ceiling, and at first she panicked because it wasn't made of darkened, damp stone like she'd grown used to over the past three months, but then she felt a wash of memories, still sharp, come flooding into her mind and she remembered the pain in her back and the helicopter and Tony and Rhodey. It hadn't been a near-death induced hallucination. She turned her head slowly, on a stiff neck, to see Tony asleep at her bedside, head resting not far from her hand which was covered by his. There were two piles of clothes on the other chair behind him. She tried to move a little and instead of a sharp pain she felt a dull, warning throb in her lower back. It didn't bother her. She smiled a little and her free hand combed through Tony's hair gently as she watched his back rise and fall. Tony stirred in his sleep. He'd been dreaming that he and Pepper were in bed, curled up together, and she was running her hand through his hair, soothing him. As consciousness knocked at his door, he tried to hold on to the dream, not wanting to wake up and realise it was just that. When he did finally wake up, there was a real life hand brushing through his hair. He blinked, raised his head, and saw Pepper smiling at him.

"You're awake." He whispered.

She laughed gently, rubbing her thumb along his jaw. He already looked healthier; the colour had started to return to his face. "So are you," she pointed out. "You kept your promise, see? I knew you would."

He let out a harsh sound, somewhere between a laugh and a sob of relief. He covered her hand on his cheek and kissed her palm, causing electricity to shoot up her arm, and locked his gaze with hers. "Jesus Christ, Potts. Don't ever scare me like that again." He whispered before leaning forward and kissing her soundly.

Pepper wasn't one for clichés, really, but it was one of those moments where she might change her mind. That kiss was long overdue- probably over 5 or 6 years overdue, and it was everything she could ever have wanted it to be. On Tony's part, kissing her felt like the thing he'd been born to do. All those years he'd wondered what it would be like, jealous of the men he'd seen doing just that, and now he knew, he did not want to stop, but he had to. He beamed back at her, nudging her nose with his as he pulled back. "I had this daunting fear that you'd club me one when I did that." He chuckled.

Pepper laughed as well, tracing the line of his fuzzy jaw with her thumb. "If you'd done that three months ago, I probably would have." She confessed, and kissed him again softly. "But not now."

Grinning like an idiot, Tony pulled back again and stroked her arm. "How do you feel? How's your back?"

"Sore." She sighed. "But I can wiggle my toes so I think I'm good." She winked at him and smiled. "What about you? Were you hurt?"

Tony shook his head. "My heart nearly fell through my chest when you got shot, but other than that and one attention seeking rib, I'm perfectly fine. But did...did he do anything?" He sighed and swallowed, not wanting to ask the question, but knowing that if she was suffering, he needed to help her through it, but to his relief she shook her head.

"He was going to, I think." She said softly, gathering all her courage to even talk about it. "But the commotion you made distracted him. I knew you'd save me, Tony." She smiled at him but then changed the subject. "You should go take a shower. Scruffy  _looks_  good on you, but the smell? Not so much," He didn't even really smell that bad, but she figured that would get him in the shower pretty fast, and if she couldn't take one, then he might as well take a long enough one for the both of them.

Tony barked out a laugh at this and rubbed his bearded chin. "Scruffy? I think this is actually called 'sexy but lazy'. If not, then it should be." He winked at her and sighed. "But I guess a shower wouldn't go amiss. I'll be back in a little while, ok? Try and sleep a little longer."

"Don't need to worry about that." She said through a stifled yawn. "I'm exhausted." She smiled at him and patted his cheek. "Now go on, get."

He smiled back at her, maybe a little awkwardly, but then again it was still an awkward situation. He gave her one last lingering kiss before he took his clothes and left her to sleep, heading to his own room which he had yet to even step into. He showered, shaved a little, only keeping a line of fuzz along his jaw line as well as the familiar goatee. After he'd properly cleaned up, he headed into the other room and sighed happily when he saw the real-person-sized bed waiting for him. He practically dove at it, snuggling beneath the covers and closing his eyes.

He realised about an hour later that it wasn't working. He'd tossed and turned, and still Tony couldn't get to sleep. And he knew what the problem was. Getting back out of bed, he padded down the hall back to Pepper's room and cracked her door open, smiling slightly as he saw her awake too.

"Couldn't sleep either, huh?" she asked as he made his way towards her. She smiled as he approached the bed and snuggled beneath the sheets, arranging them both so that Pepper was comfortable without having to move too much, which ended up with her tucked up under his chin, a leg between both of his and her arm around his waist with one of his around her shoulders. Tony nuzzled the top of her head and kissed it softly, stroking her arm as his eyes closed.

"I love you." He whispered.

She could have cried at how gentle he was being with her, how careful. He had always been good to her, but the idea that he had to be so cautious around her because he thought he'd break her if he wasn't...it was a lot to handle. She scooted closer so that she was snuggled up against him, nose buried in the fresh-smelling warmth of his skin, and at his words she smiled, closing her eyes. "I love you, too," she whispered in reply, her body almost immediately shutting down into sleep.

* * *

When she awoke, it was quiet. It must have been the light pouring through the window that woke her, because Tony, warm and solid, was fast asleep next to her. She wriggled a little so she could kiss his neck, smiling, almost bursting with relief that the nightmare was finally over. Tony awoke slowly, the gentle feeling of lips pressing to his neck. He blinked awake and smiled as he felt Pepper's warm weight next to him.

"Mmm...that's a nice way to wake up." He grinned as she pulled back, dipping his head to give her a proper kiss. She grinned and kissed him back, her hand resting on the back of his neck.

"Yup." She mumbled, still a little sleepy as she kissed him again, threading her fingers through his hair. "You're welcome." Tony snorted at this and she wrinkled her nose, pulling back to look at him. "When can we go home?"

Tony shrugged, reaching up to brush a strand of hair from her face. "I'm not sure when you can, but Rhodey wants me back to the States as soon as possible." He sighed. "But I don't want to leave you here."

Pepper blushed a little and bit her lip, playing with the neck of his t-shirt. "I'm in a huge military base, Tony, nothing's going to happen. You should go if you're needed, they probably want to have a press conference with you about everything. When it's over, you can make an excuse and come back."

At this, Tony frowned, clearing his throat softly. He didn't like the phrasing she was using. "Make an excuse? Do I need to make an excuse to come back and see my girlfriend?"

She blushed again and, embarrassed, ducked her head. "I don't know, do you?" she raised her eyes just in time to see the look on his face and quickly backtracked. "Look, Tony, I'm not doubting you or anything, I know...I know you love me, it's just...I thought you maybe wanted to keep us just between us for a while. Besides, I'm not sure it's wise to make things public so soon," she told him, her free hand coming up to brush his hair out of his forehead, "the amount of PR work I'm going to have to do- or you, or whoever ends up doing it- is already going to be ridiculous. Can't we enjoy this in private for a little longer? At least until I'm fully functioning again?"

Tony sighed. He didn't like it, but she was right. Plus the fact that as soon as they 'outed' themselves, she would become the centre of attention, and not in a good way. No one would pass an opportunity to spread a rumour about him, probably that he was cheating on her with some bimbo, probably by the bimbo's themselves. And then of course there was his track record. How did she know he wouldn't get bored in a couple of weeks? That his sudden affection wasn't just because of Afghanistan? Well, in a way it was, but that didn't mean it wasn't inevitable. He loved her, and he knew she believed that and loved him back, but he really couldn't blame her for thinking about the consequences of being with him.

"I guess." He agreed eventually, still not really liking the idea. "But I don't know how long that's gonna last. I mean, if it means I'm not supposed to kiss you in public or grope you or whatever, I can't promise anything."

Pepper snorted and gently swatted his shoulder. "I just want you all to myself for a little while, that's all." She said. "The media will jump on this as soon as we go public, we'll never get a moment's peace, so I want to grab all the moments alone with you that I can." She smiled and leant in to kiss him again. Tony made a pleased sound and let his hand fall to her hip, kissing her back slowly.

"Hmm...should I be worried for my innocence, Potts?" he asked between kisses, finally pulling back with a mischievous look in his eye.

She raised her eyebrow at him when he pulled back, her eyes falling to his lips for a moment. She had definitely thought about it before- what it would be like to kiss him. He really did have perfect lips. And eyes. And...and everything. She shrugged innocently, her eyes finding his again, just a little bit mischievous behind her angel-mask. "Not while I'm confined to bed, no," she joked, "but once I'm healthy? You might want to watch out."

Tony barked out a laugh and shuffled a little closer. He was, for the first time in his life, willing to wait for as long as it took for her to be ready, feel comfortable and just be able to move without help, but their usual banter had gone up a gear, and boy did he love it. "What makes you think being confined to a bed is going to change once you're healthy?" He said, grinning wolfishly.

She hummed appreciatively at him, fully enjoying this turn of events. She was good at banter, she knew that, and this kind was doubly exciting. "Well, I think I could get on board with that idea too." She whispered. And then blushed as she realised something. "Um...not to ruin the moment, but would you mind helping me to the bathroom?"

Tony raised his eyebrows and laughed softly, but kissed her and sat up, hopping off the bed and gently helping her down. "Sure you don't want a piggy-back ride?" he asked as she grabbed a hold of his arm.

"I'm sure." She laughed, wincing slightly as her back protested. "Using you as a crutch is just fine, thank you." She let go of him as they reached the bathroom door and Tony left her to her own devices, watching her in case she slipped.

And that's when he noticed the slit in the back of her gown.

"And you used to give me an earful for walking around in my boxers when you were in the house." He said with a broad smile. "I think we need to keep that gown."

Pepper rolled her eyes and turned to close the door, muttering 'shut up' at him as she did so. She managed to walk to the toilet with relative ease, finding her legs worked a lot better than she'd thought and only a dull throb coming from her back. Once she was done, she washed her hands and turned to look at herself in the mirror, frowning a little. She twisted around so she could see her back in the mirror and her heart sank. There were bruises up and down it, some she remembered getting and some she didn't. At the base of her back, barely an inch from her spine, there was a bandage that she knew covered her gunshot wound. And then when her eyes travelled up to her face she barely even recognized herself. She must have lost weight (weight that she knew she didn't have to lose in the first place, having always been 'too thin') because she looked gaunt, like she had been starved...which technically wasn't far from the truth. She was horrifically pale, too, and her freckles stood out like she'd never seen them before. She looked sick. She looked ten years older than she was.

It had been about ten minutes and Pepper still hadn't come out of the bathroom. Tony was still outside it, his mind working furiously, thinking about the suit he'd used to get out of the cave. It wasn't actually a bad idea for warfare, if he could get the specs right, and him being him, he could. But that struck another cord - the terrorists had his weapons. How the hell had they got his weapons? How did they know he was going to be there that day three months ago? Something was amiss. He shook his head to clear it and blinked when he realised Pepper was still in the bathroom, turning to knock on the door.

"Pep? Y'alright?" When he got no answer, he panicked and opened the door, fearing she'd fallen, but he found her staring at herself in the mirror, and immediately realised what had happened. He walked up to her and stood behind her, tenderly wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his chin on her shoulder. She jumped a little when the door opened, but leaned back into his chest when he wrapped his arms around her, sighing.

"When we get home," he murmured. "We'll get you fed up properly again, and you'll be even more beautiful than you are now."

She didn't understand how he- or anyone- could possibly think she was beautiful. Not now, anyway, with no makeup, skin and bones, with the evidence of what had happened to her marking up her body. She smiled half-heartedly at him and looked at their reflection in the mirror. He'd lost weight too, but in its place he'd gained muscle. Where she felt she looked ten years older, he seemed to look ten years younger- though she thought that might have something to do with his hair grown out the way it had, and the fact that he was  _q_ _uite_ sober. "I look so old," she sighed, closing her eyes.

Tony smiled a little and nuzzled the spot below Pepper's ear, kissing it as well. "Virginia Potts." he said softly. "You are exactly as young and as beautiful as the day I met you. If not more. We've both been through a lot, you even more so, and the fact that you're still standing? Still being so strong...it's inspiring. And very attractive." She still didn't look convinced to him so he stared at her though the mirror. "Pep, you will always be beautiful to me. You can balloon up or shrink down and I will still love you."

Pepper wasn't sure if she wanted to cry or laugh or both. To hear that come from anybody's lips would have been crazy enough, but coming from him? From Tony, who a mere three months ago had been a bona-fide playboy with no desire to settle down? It was insane, beautiful, wonderful. It was everything. And she loved him so much that it made her chest hurt. She broke into a huge, tearful smile, sniffling a little as she turned her head to look at him properly. "Tony," she sighed against his lips, "Why did you hide this side of you for so long?" She didn't wait for an answer, just shook her head a little and kissed him tenderly, bringing her hand up to his jaw. "I love you," she murmured between kisses, "So much."

Tony grinned against her lips, his fingers twitching at her hips. "Well, I guess I didn't know what I was missing til it was nearly too late." He said. "And I'm not stupid enough to risk it again." He winked at her and took her hand again. "Come on, back to bed, and then I guess I should go talk to...some military people." He shrugged.

She let him help her back to the bed, already newly exhausted from being on her feet. She was fading fast, fast enough that the moment her head hit the pillow she was half asleep. "Love you," she murmured, rolling onto her side, "be safe."

Tony smiled and bent to press a tender kiss to her cheek, nuzzling it gently before standing up and exiting, nodding to the armed woman standing outside it and heading back through the base to find Rhodey.


	8. Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Smut tiiiiiiiiiiime.

Waking up the next morning without Tony was...weird. It was the first time for a long time she'd had to do it, and as much as she knew they needed this – not only the space, but the time to sort things out back home – she missed him. He called her every day, even though it was pushing midnight for Tony when he did, and she found that just his voice alone was enough to get her through the lonely periods. On the third day, she finally managed to get her hands on a laptop so she could at least get some work done, and her first job was sifting through the company shipping manifests to try and find any anomalies that could indicate why Tony's weapons were in Afghanistan in the first place, but nothing popped up. Everything from the shipping and handling point of view looked tip top, but it quite clearly wasn't. She'd emailed her findings to Tony and left it at that.

She stayed in the hospital for two weeks while doctors monitored her progress with walking, stretching and other things that would have affected her spine if the bullet had done any damage, but finally the doctors concluded that she'd been  _very_  lucky and the bullet had missed any important parts of her body, and she was free to go home. And home she went, demanding the first plane she could get on back to California. The only clothes she had were military garbs she'd managed to snag from the female officer that had been guarding her room, and even though she didn't feel terribly sexy, she knew she looked a lot better than she had when Tony had left. She'd put on some of the weight she'd lost in the three months of captivity, her bruises were almost gone, the bags under her eyes were no longer an issue and she didn't look quite so emaciated. She couldn't quite decide if she was more excited or nervous to see him and she wondered secretly if he felt the same.

On the day she came home, Tony was waiting with Rhodey at the entrance to the runway, pacing up and down and constantly checking his watch. Rhodey was on the phone, making sure they had a military escort on the way back and watching Tony, finally ending the call and staring at him. "Tony, dude will you sit down? God, you're like a child." He let out an exasperated sigh as Tony, for perhaps the twentieth time in the last hour got up to check if the plane had landed. "There's like five minutes til it lands, calm down."

But Tony couldn't. He hadn't seen Pepper in nearly a fortnight, which even if you discounted the events in Afghanistan was the longest amount of consecutive time she'd been absent. 'She needs a holiday' he thought to himself, jumping to his feet as a small dot appeared at the end of the runway 'we both do.' Rhodey had to catch up because Tony was already heading down to the landing strip, more than eager to see Pepper again.

"So." He said when he caught up to him. "You and Pepper huh?"

Tony shot him a sidelong glance but smiled. "Yup. Always has been, always will be."

Rhodey laughed softly and punched him lightly on the arm, but his next comment went unheard as Tony walked towards the taxiing plane, following the truck wheeling the stairs out. He stood at the bottom of them as the plane door opened and grinned stupidly when Pepper made her way down. He skipped up to meet her, helping her down the rest of the way. She looked a lot healthier, and he hoped he did too. He'd had a haircut and shave at least. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, he stopped long enough to mutter a quick 'Hi' before he cupped her cheek and pressed a soft yet promising kiss to her lips. Pepper had been halfway to making her own greeting when his lips found hers and she squeaked softly before chuckling and wrapping her arms around his neck, kissing him back eagerly. She'd missed him more than she realised, even though they were relatively new to the whole kissing part of their relationship, and she felt a weight fall from her shoulders by just being in his embrace. She pulled back after a few seconds and smiled broadly, stroking his jaw softly.

"I missed you." She sighed, her eyes twinkling. And then she saw Rhodey and blushed profusely. "Um...hi Jim."

Rhodey grinned and saluted her, jumping to one side as Tony reached out to cuff the back of his head. "Clear off, Rhodes. We're good here." He laughed, taking Pepper's hand and linking their fingers.

"Whatever." Rhodey chuckled, starting to walk away. "I'll see you next week guys, have a safe trip back, try not to get kidnapped again, kay?"

"We'll try our best!" Pepper called after him before smiling at Tony and tugging on his hand, walking towards the car and Happy, who was holding a bunch of flowers. She embraced him before getting into the car, thanking him for the flowers and taking a deep breath in.

"Where's my flowers, Hap?" Tony asked, a serious look on his face. "I mean I know I wasn't attention seeking enough to get shot..." at this Pepper swatted his arm and he broke his serious façade, laughing as Happy did. "Get in the car, Potts. Back to my place please Happy."

"Right you are, boss." Happy nodded. "Good to have you both back." He said before getting into the car and driving off once they were both seated.

Pepper snuggled up to Tony as soon as he followed her into the car, wrapping her arm around his middle and burying her face in his shoulder in an awkward hug. "I really did miss you." She mumbled. Tony grinned and laid his arm around her shoulders, nuzzling the top of her head and pressing his lips to her hair.

"I missed you too, sweetheart." He said softly. She raised her hair after a moment and he took the initiative and kissed her again, swearing to himself that it got better every single time. "You look a lot better." He said when they pulled apart, raising his other hand to her cheek. "You've got some colour back in your cheeks and still look just as beautiful, just like I said."

She blushed at this, gazing up at him. She hadn't had a chance to get a proper look at him yet, but now she did she saw just how much healthier he looked. He, too, had filled out again, and he had less hair, his goatee trimmed back to its familiar style with the added strip along his jawline and sideburns, and his hair just covering his ears. She much preferred it to the slicked back look he'd had going before they were abducted. "You look better too." She said, reaching up to ruffle his hair. "Less scruffy."

"Sexy-but-lazy." He corrected, pulling a face as she flattened out his hair again. "What's with the fascination with my hair exactly?"

Pepper shrugged and threaded her fingers through it, giggling as he immediately mellowed out, his face relaxing and a soft grunt of approval coming from his lips. ""Are you complaining?"

"Noooo." He moaned, closing his eyes and smiling lazily. "You keep going. Whatever lights your candle."

She snorted at this and tugged on his hair before removing her hand and settling against his chest again. She could hear his heart beating through his chest and she sighed happily, closing her eyes peacefully, the feel of Tony's fingers tracing patterns on her shoulder.

"I think you should move in with me." Tony said suddenly. Pepper's eyes sprang open and she jerked her head up, staring at him with a raised eyebrow. "I mean...not permanently obviously. I mean not that that wouldn't be fantastic!" he bit his lip and stared at her. "You're supposed to stop me digging myself into these holes."

Pepper, who was still a little taken aback at the thought that Tony Stark had just asked her to move in with him, took a breath and then let it out, shaking her head. "Uh...why?"

"Because otherwise I'll just keep talking until someone-"

"No, no," Pepper said with a laugh. "Why do you want me to move in?"

"Oh." Tony sighed. "Well...safety for one. I have much better security at my place, and you practically lived there anyway. And..." he blushed a little but smiled shyly. "I kind of need to be weaned off you. I got like zero sleep in the last two weeks."

Pepper blushed at this as well. It was true that she'd faired pretty much the same sleeping without him, but basing that as a reason for her to move in with him? It wasn't exactly realistic. But then he was doing that puppy dog thing with his eyes and she had a hard enough time resisting it before hand.

"Fine." She said exasperatedly, smiling as he lit up like a Christmas tree. "But just until you get some high tech robot guards dogs or something at my place."

"Deal." He said happily, leaning in to kiss her softly and grumbling as the car came to a stop. "Damn, and here's me thinking I'd get lucky on the ride home." He whispered cheekily against her lips. Pepper raised an eyebrow but said nothing as they got out of the car and made their way up to Tony's front door. Jarvis greeted them as they walked in and Tony stretched. "Ugh...I guess I better go tidy my bedroom huh?" he said with a grin.

Pepper shrugged and stepped towards him, reaching up to take hold of his tie, staring at the knot for a moment. "Or...we could go mess it up a bit more?"

Tony's eyes widened and he swallowed thickly, Adam's apple bobbing. "Uh...I...huh?" he stammered, feeling his mouth go dry. "I...you know I was only joking in the car, right? I don't expect...that's not why I asked you to-"

He was babbling, and Pepper had discovered a novel way of shutting him up that they both enjoyed, so without a second thought she leant up and covered his mouth with her own, kissing him slow and deep, her hand creeping up his chest and lacing through his hair. She pulled back after a few seconds, smiling. "You may have been joking, but I wasn't." She said, voice hushed. "I...I want you, Tony."

He let out a slow breath, still swallowing as his fingers danced at her hips. "Are you sure?" he asked softly. He was very aware that she was still healing, both physically and mentally, and he didn't want to be a setback. "I don't want to push you."

She shook her head, sighing slightly and wrapping her hand once around his tie, kissing him again, a little harder this time. "I'm the one doing the pushing." She said, stroking his cheek. "I'll be ok, Tony, I promise. I'll tell you if I'm not." He still didn't look convinced so she kissed him a third time and started backing up to where she unconsciously knew his bedroom was down the hall.

He tugged her to him, spinning and pressing her against the wall of his bedroom as they entered, practically buzzing. He was so scared of fucking this up or moving too quickly, but apparently Pepper had decided that ten years of foreplay and three months of a pretty-much-relationship was enough to warrant third base and a home run. She shuddered when he moaned, feeling it right down to her bones. It was incredible how suddenly consumed she was by this- by her utter need for him. She supposed it had something to do with the fact that she had been denying it forever, but regardless, it was more powerful than anything she had ever experienced. Her free hand rested on his chest, just to the right of where she knew the arc reactor was. She eagerly opened her mouth into the kiss with a soft moan of her own, finding that his hands were much bigger than she had previously thought as they were braced on either side of her. Tony felt an odd sense of calmness wash over him when he felt Pepper's hand rest near his heart - covering the thing that she owned, and boy did she. He was determined to take this as slow and as carefully as he could possibly do it, mindful that it was possible it would all become too much, given what she'd been through, but seeing as she had instigated it, she must have felt at least a little better. He kissed her slowly, revelling in the experience. His fingers danced at her sides, slipping underneath the fabric of her t-shirt to tickle the skin beneath which drew out the most delightfully sexy half moan, half laugh from her. If she thought his hands were distracting a moment ago, she nearly lost it when she felt them ghost over the hem of her t-shirt. Those fingers that she knew were artful and capable and wonderfully nimble were tickling at the skin on her abdomen and she couldn't contain her laugh, laced with a soft sigh as her hand drifted up to catch his tie. She pulled him in closer so she could almost feel the whole of him pressed against her, fingers of her bad hand curling in the hair at the nape of his neck. He growled softly when she yanked on his tie, pleasantly surprised and even more turned on. He sucked her bottom lip into his mouth for a moment before pulling back and staring at her flushed face, noting how her lips had reddened and her lipstick was smeared, probably right across his mouth. Pepper reached up to brush her thumb over his lip, wiping the lipstick away with a smile as her other hand rubbed slow circles at the back of his neck.

"Take off your shirt." She whispered, undoing his tie slowly. Tony stepped back as she whipped it from his collar and did as he was told, quickly unbuttoning his shirt and shrugging it from his shoulders, swallowing as he looked down at his scared, deformed chest. Pepper could see the cogs in his mind turning and she reached out for him again, tracing her fingers gently over the metal before bending and softly kissing the plate. Tony let out a shaky breath and brought her head up with his hand to kiss her again, his other moving underneath the material of her t-shirt and tugging it up, until she helped him pull it over her head, then moving onto the khaki's she'd borrowed from the base, quickly unbuttoning them and pushing them slowly down over her hips, leaving her in just her bra and panties. She wanted this. She did, and she wanted  _him_. The thing was...if there was a way to do this without him ever having to see her, she'd choose that. He was seconds away from seeing her scars, and as much as she loved and trusted him, she couldn't help but be afraid it might turn him off. Turn him away. She sighed, keeping her eyes on his as she shrugged it off, standing in just her bra and skirt in front of him. "I, um..." she cleared her throat, blushing hard, looking down at herself. "I have a lot of scars. More on my back."

He had to marvel at this woman sometimes. He had a huge protrusion coming from his chest and she was worried he'd be thrown by a few scars? He smoothed his hands gently down her chest, his fingertips gliding down her torso, brushing over her scars as he gazed at her. "You're beautiful, Pepper." He whispered. "All of you."

She shivered under his gentle touch, goose bumps rising on her skin. He was being so careful with her, so quiet and slow, that she wasn't sure she'd ever get used to it. She locked her gaze with his, hands by her sides, and listened to the tone of his voice. He meant it. He meant every word, and that made her shiver again. She caught his hand as it rested at her hip and she brought it back up her body, pressing it against the hook of her bra, silently giving him permission to see everything there was of her. He wasted no time in un-hooking her bra, gently tugging the straps down her shoulders, his pupils dilating when it fell away to reveal the perfect mounts of flesh beneath. Tony moved his hand back round to her front, softly cupping her right breast and with a soft moan, kissed her again, his chest pressing against hers. The feeling was immense, and he was pretty sure she could tell how he felt, given the impatient Tony Jr pressing against her hip. She smiled when he kissed her and let her own hands wander along his chest to the waistband of his jeans, and then further down, pressing her palm against the heated length at her hip. Tony sucked in a breath and she giggled, deftly unbuttoning his jeans and undoing the zipper before pushing them down along with his boxers.

Feeling like he was reaching the end of his rope, Tony bent his knees slightly and picked Pepper up, holding her against him and moaning softly when she wrapped her legs around him. The muscle he'd gained while crafting that first suit of armour definitely paid off when it came to stunts like this, he thought as he walked towards his bed and climbed onto it on his knees, bending forwards and gently lowering her down, still kissing her deeply and slowly. Once down, his hands flew to her hips and he slowly peeled away her panties, tossing them over his shoulder before settling between her legs, his arousal bumping against her. He pulled back and stared down at her, breathing heavily. She was flushed, but she grinned up at him, stroking his hair.

"I'll go slow." He whispered, taking himself in hand. "If you need me to stop, you tell me right away, and I'll stop, okay?"

She nodded quickly and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, arching into his body with a soft whimper. "I promise. Please, Tony..."

He kissed her again, keeping his lips sealed on hers as he entered her slowly, straining his ears for any sound that might suggest she wanted him to stop. When none came, he pushed forward, groaning softly against her lips and his arousal spiking when she did the same. Lowering himself onto his forearms as he reached the hilt, he gazed over Pepper's face, brushing strands of sweaty hair away with his fingers. He kissed her again and began a slow, deep rhythm. She let out a mewl when he did finally push into her, her head falling back against the pillow as she hooked her legs around his waist, pulling him in deeper. She had no way to know how long she had needed this- this connection with him, this confirmation of something that neither of them knew to say with words, but it felt like forever. She opened her eyes to see him gazing down at her, quivered under his gentle fingers and pressed up into him, accepting his kiss with equal passion as she moved with him. Her mouth found his ear and she let out a breath, sucked one in.

"I love you," she told him, their hips meeting at just the right angle to make her sigh again.

Tony growled and bucked into her, kissing along her jaw and neck and moaning when she spoke. "I love you. So much. Fuck, Pepper..." he grunted and sped up a fraction, making their hips meet with every thrust. Dropping his mouth to her neck, he groaned, his hands skating over her body to her breasts again, sucking at the tender skin hard enough to leave a mark. And that's when things started to go wrong. At first, when he sped up, she was sure she wouldn't make it much longer- but then when his mouth met her skin and she felt the scrape of his teeth, however subtle, and the sudden pressure... she knew it was going to leave a mark. And she knew that it was only Tony, and there was no reason to suddenly feel as if she were suffocating, as if her chest were caving in on itself. She gasped, but this time for a different reason, her entire body going still as she found herself unable to breathe. Unconsciously her fingers dug into his shoulder, flashing back to dark and dirt and roughness, to an anonymous face that didn't care what she looked like, to a time when she wasn't in a bed with the man that she loved and loved her back. Tony heard her gasp into his ear, felt her tense and her fingers digging into his shoulder, and thinking she'd climaxed, he let his own release wash over him, sinking in as far as he could with an animalistic growl.

Chest heaving and his head fuzzy, it wasn't until he'd pulled back with a grin that he noticed the look on Pepper's face, and it wasn't the same look of pleasure he'd seen a few minutes ago. He cupped her cheek, worry hitting the pit of his stomach as her eyes widened even further. "Pepper? Sweetheart, what's wrong?"

He had no idea what had happened- it was clear to her that he thought she'd finished, and he wasn't making things easier for her. She shivered under him as he found his own release, unable to move, unable to say a word. When he spoke her eyes widened, and she wanted to answer him- wanted it more than anything- but her mouth was numb. Her whole body was numb. Words died on her lips as she opened her mouth to speak, then closed it. All she could do was shake her head slightly. Tony blanched as he finally realised what had happened and quickly pulled out of her, sitting up and gently pulling her into his lap, trying to soothe her as she started fighting him.

"Pep. Pepper, calm down." He whispered softly as she scratched at him, still in shock. "It's Tony. It's ok, it's only me, I'm not going to hurt you baby."

When he took her in his arms all she could remember was being shoved up against the wall, the rough, hot breath of her captor in her ears, leaving her no escape. She struggled instinctively, though some part of her knew she wasn't in that place anymore, her heart was racing and she was shaking still. "Don't," she whimpered, still squirming against him, "P-please." She yelped when he leaned in to whisper to her, but the moment she heard his voice the illusion was shattered. She broke free of it with a gasp, arching into his chest behind her as she fought for air, just now realizing she'd been holding her breath. "Tony," she breathed, shifting in his arms so she could face him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and clung to him, tears rolling down her cheeks. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I didn't...it...I'm sorry."

Relief flooded him when he felt her snap out of it, and he shook his head as she apologised. "Don't you dare. It's not your fault. We should have waited, I'm sorry." He stroked her hair and back as she shivered and pulled the duvet up as he leant back against the headboard. "It's ok now, I've got you."

She sniffled, snuggling into the crook of his neck and closing her eyes, curled up in his arms. She felt safe like that, so safe that she could hardly imagine ever having another flashback like that...but apparently her memories were much stronger than the bruises she'd sustained. Those had gone away. The memories hadn't, and she wasn't sure they ever would. But it wasn't his fault and he shouldn't have been apologizing. "Stop it," she muttered into his neck, "You can't apologize either. I wanted...I wanted that. I don't regret it. I love you and I wanted to be with you and...and next time will be better. I promise."

He tutted softly and pressed a soft kiss to her head. "I told you, I'll wait. And despite the panic attack, that was perfect. I love you so much, I just want you to feel safe."

"I do." She said quickly. "With you, I do. It's just my head that needs convincing." She sniffed and looked up at him. "Just stay with me," she murmured, stretching out her legs so she could lay against him. "You're making me better already." She firmly believed that. She knew that she wouldn't have nightmares anymore, now that he was here...and she expected that the next time they made love, she wouldn't have a problem at all. In the meantime, the long flight and emotional exhaustion had finally gotten the best of her.

Tony laid down as she began to drift off and tucked her under his chin, stroking the skin of her back and brushing his lips over her ear until she fell asleep. He had a hard time believing that just being there was going to do anything at all for her, especially seeing as he just couldn't drift off. His brain was working overtime. He had some basic but very brilliant ideas, all concerning the armour, and he needed to get them down. Now. The sooner they were completed, the easier it would be to protect the both of them. Maybe even more people. Making sure she was definitely asleep, Tony eased himself from underneath Pepper, tucked her back in, and once he'd dressed, he headed down to the workshop.

* * *

She was dreaming again. She knew she was dreaming, because the rational part of her brain was still awake enough to recognize that this was a memory. That didn't stop her from being terrified. It was back- the breathing against her ear, her skin bruising and tearing and there was no way out- there was never any way out. She couldn't struggle because she knew he'd only hurt her more, and she couldn't call about because there was nobody to hear her. She was able, this time, to keep it at bay until the memory progressed far enough for her to feel the teeth sinking into her shoulder, and then she lost it. She woke up breathless and it took her about half a minute to realize that was because she was screaming, tangled up in unfamiliar bed sheets, with no Tony in sight. She let out a whimper and quickly covered her mouth with her hand, tears streaming down her cheeks as she gripped the bed sheet like a vice.

Things in the workshop, meanwhile, had progressed rapidly. Tony had managed to re-create the majority of the blueprint of the first suit and was just setting about trimming the fat when Jarvis pinged to alert him to an urgent message.

"What is it, Jarv?" Tony asked, still caught up in the blueprint.

"I thought you should know, sir, that Miss Potts' heart rate has increased dramatically and she appears to be in a state of distress." The AI told him. Tony practically threw himself out of his chair, cursing like a sailor as he thundered upstairs and into his bedroom, throwing the door open and staring at Pepper who was sitting against the headboard, breathing heavily and tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Pepper, I am so sorry." Tony said, stepping forward. "Did you have another nightmare?"

Pepper flinched when she heard his voice, looking at him but feling like she was seeing someone else. Like she was seeing the old Tony, the one that left the women he slept with to gather their things and leave after they woke up alone in his bed. "I thought you were going to stay," she said, and she surprised even herself with the bitterness in her voice. "I'm fine," she lied, furiously wiping at her tears, "go back to whatever you were doing."

"No, no no no, Pepper..." He stepped forward and sat on the bed, facing her. "I'm sorry, I just...I had an idea for something and I needed to get it done, but I'll come back to bed, ok?" And he started undressing to prove it. "Do you want to talk about it?"

She shook her head and curled up on her side, facing away from him. She drew her knees up to her chest and closed her eyes, still shaking a little from the nightmare. "No," she muttered, "I don't want to talk about it."

He swallowed as he stripped down to his boxers, completely at a loss as to what to do. He kicked himself for ever going down to the 'shop. Why couldn't it have waited? He crawled into bed and leant on his forearm, looking over her. She was still fucking shaking for God's sake. Touching her shoulder gently, he whispered. "Can I hold you?"

She sighed heavily, wanting more than anything the comfort of his arms. Still...she deserved his respect. And she didn't feel like she had it all yet. "No," she said finally, "not if you're just gonna get up and leave me again." She sniffed again and tugged the duvet a little tighter around her chin.

Tony blinked, not use to the harshness of her words. He removed his hand from her shoulder, no idea what he was supposed to do or say. He knew he had to stay, but...if she didn't want him there, there was very little point. He sighed and laid down fully, facing her back, realising with a start how much it hurt to know she didn't want him. "I love you. I'm sorry." He said softly, tucking his hand under his pillow and watching her back.

Pepper sighed and swiped at her eyes, trying to stop the flow of tears. "Tony...I love you too. But you can't...you have to understand, I'm giving you a lot. I mean, I don't just bare my soul to everyone, you know that, and when I ask you to stay with me, it means that I need you."

He swallowed harshly and shuffled a little closer, tentatively looping his arm around her waist. When she didn't shrug him off, he tugged her back to him and nuzzled the back of her neck. "I'm sorry." he whispered. "You're right. I'm new at this, and I...I'm focussing so hard on not doing anything to mess this up, I don't realise when I am." He sighed a little and blinked when she turned in his arms. "I'm here, Pepper." he said, squeezing his arm gently around as he said it. "I'm not going anywhere. I promise."

She sniffed again and snuggled closer to him, finally able to relax in his arms. "I love you." She whispered, closing her eyes again and kissing his chest softly. Tony smiled and whispered it back before closing his eyes as well.


	9. Nine

It had been a month since their return, and Tony and Pepper had established themselves a stable-ish relationship. They still treated each other just the same – he'd still leave her to do all the official work and she still wanted to slap the back of his head half the time – but it was different now. If he shunned his responsibilities, he'd make up for it with a massage or a gift, and even though Pepper wanted to slap the back of his head, she didn't because quite frankly, she liked the back of his head. And she was pretty certain that would negatively impact on the frequency of her massages and gifts. They'd settled into a routine that suited them both, too. Tony still stayed up late in his shop, but Pepper would always wake up snuggled against him, and the fact that he willingly came back to her meant more than that he stayed up too late.

When Pepper woke up on the morning of their month-and-a-half-aversary, she instantly smiled when she felt him still curled around her. She shifted a little, stifling a giggle at the noise he made, and started kissing his jaw along to his ear, looping her arms around his waist. "Wake up, sleeping beauty," she murmured, smoothing her hands up and down his back. She nipped at his ear a little when he didn't stir right away, unable to stop a giggle from escaping when he startled awake. "Good morning," she greeted him giddily, eyes sparkling.

Tony had jerked awake when Pepper nipped his ear, wrenching him from the glorious dream he'd been having – he and Pepper curled up next to a roaring fire – as his eyes flew open. "Ngh!" he squeaked, reaching up to rub at his ear but smiling at the look on her face. "I didn't know you were a biter, Miss Potts."

She giggled again and decided she rather liked teasing him. From where her hands rested on his lower back she dropped them to his ass, squeezing once before she brought her hands back up and kissed him hungrily. She didn't think she would ever get tired of kissing him- it just got better and better every time. "Only if you're into that kind of thing," she whispered, smirking right back at him.

His eyebrows rose sharply as she kissed him, trying to keep up. He, Tony Stark, was trying to keep up. His hand drifted lower down her still naked back to the curve of her ass, resting there. He was still extremely wary of how far to go, so until she was ready, he was letting her set the pace. He smirked at her words. "Hmm, would that apply for everything? Because I've got a list lying around somewhere."

Pepper rolled her eyes and shifted her hips slightly, smirking as she felt his morning salute. "I don't know about everything," she told him, "but if you give me that list sometime, I guess I can take a look at it." Her mouth found his ear again and she ground her hips ruthlessly against his as she nibbled and licked at the sensitive skin, her fingers curling against his back. Tony damn near combusted. His ears were  _the_  area to make him crumble, and he was pretty sure she knew it. Even if the huge boner wasn't a giveaway, the extremely masculine whimper he made shortly after her lips connected was. He pulled her against his hips, grinding right back as his eyes closed, arousal spiking through him.

"Pepper..." he growled, managing to stop what he was doing and open his eyes again, panting. "We...we should stop."

She raised an eyebrow but smiled at him. "You sure?" she asked. "You're the one with the...issue."

"I know." He panted. "But...it'll go away. I won't die."

Pepper snorted but leant up to kiss him softly before pulling back. "I love you." She breathed, stroking a hand through his hair. "And just for that, I'll make you breakfast. Anything you want."

Tony grinned widely. "Bacon. Eggs. Toast. Ooh and pancakes!" he added excitedly. "I haven't had pancakes in so long, we have to make pancakes."

Staring, Pepper let out a laugh and shook her head, kissing him again before sitting up and looking for her clothes. "I guess I asked for that, huh?" she winked at him and jumped out of the bed, sauntering over to where their clothes lay on the floor and plucking her panties and his shirt out of the pile, slipping both on and turning back to him to find him sitting up and staring at her in a slight daze. "You ok there?"

He nodded and licked his lips. "I'm fine. I'm just wondering how you manage to look so sexy so damn fast. You  _just_  got out of bed." Pepper snorted and gathered the rest of their clothes, dumping them in his hamper before resting her hands on her hips.

"I don't understand you sometimes." She sighed, smiling. "All I did was put your shirt on."

Tony nodded again and blinked slowly. "Exactly." He agreed. "Do you not realise how long I've wanted to see you in my shirt for? We're talking at least a decade here, Potts."

Pepper shook her head and started walking towards the door. "And here's me thinking you wanted me in less clothing." She called back. "I'll have to make a note of that."

Tony's mouth dropped and he scrambled out of bed, trying to pull on his boxers while he walked. "No! That's not what I was saying, less clothing is always the better option!" he finally located her in the kitchen and rushed up behind her, wrapping his arms around her, making her squeak softly. "Why must you tease me?"

She snorted and laid her hands on his arms, leaning back into him. "Because you deserve it?" she tilted her head back and gently pressed her lips to his for a few seconds before pulling back and tapping his cheek. "Now go fetch the bacon, there's a good boy."

Tony grumbled as he let her go but saluted her like the good soldier he was and trudged over to the fridge, yanking the door open and staring at the contents. When the bacon didn't immediately jump out at him, he frowned and started pulling drawers open and tossing things over his shoulder. When one of the things he threw was a carton of eggs which hit the floor with a crack, Pepper came over to investigate, standing with her hands on her hips and staring at him as he obliviously foraged around.

"What the hell are you doing?" she asked. Tony jumped and hit his head on one of the shelves, turning around once he was upright.

"I think I need a map or something, I see no bacon." He supplied, rubbing the top of his head. "Where'd you put it?"

Pepper blinked. "Me? You're the one that went shopping last." She leant forwards and pulled open the container she'd always put the bacon in and sighed when there wasn't any there. "Well, you're in for a very vegan breakfast."

Tony whined and kicked at the carton of broken eggs, earning himself a smack on the arm. "Hey! I've already had one trauma for the day with no bacon, no need for physical violence." Pepper rolled her eyes. "I refuse to eat breakfast without bacon."

"You're such a child." She sighed, heading out of the kitchen. "I guess we'll go out for breakfast. After you tidy the mess you made."

Tony, who had been halfway across the room following her, stopped and pouted, turning back to clean up the eggs and put the food and drawers back before dashing upstairs to find her in the process of tying her shoes. He sighed and grabbed a t-shirt out of one of the drawers. "Again with the clothes? I told you I'm perfectly happy with you in no clothing."

"That's very considerate of you, Tony, thank you." Pepper said, smirking at him. "However, I'm not about to stroll down the beach in my birthday suit. Sorry." She beamed at him and stood up, holding her hand out for him to take. "Jo's?" she asked, referring to a small hut just past the border that separated Tony's portion of land from the rest of the beach. Tony nodded and grabbed her hand, leading her out of the bedroom and down to the beach. It was the first time that either of them had been out onto the beach since they'd got back – between press conferences here, there and everywhere and Tony's new 'responsible' move regarding the company, it was very rare they got any time to themselves – and Tony took a deep lungful of air as they stepped out, closing his eyes for a second before turning his head to Pepper, smiling.

"Nice to see sand that isn't desert, huh?" he said softly. Pepper nodded though, completely in agreement. She bent down to untie her sneakers and pull off her socks, letting her feet sink into the sand and wiggling her toes. Tony followed suit seconds later and took hold of her hand again, leading her down to the edge of the water as they started to walk towards the cabin. "Feels like it happened to someone else, doesn't it?"

Pepper stayed quiet for a moment but then nodded. "In some ways, it did." She said, letting go of his hand and wrapping her arm around his waist. "I don't mean this in a bad way, but I don't think we'd have ever got it together if we hadn't been abducted."

Tony sighed, but she had a point. He knew deep down his feelings for Pepper had probably always been there, but he'd spent years perfecting the art of hiding his feelings, and he certainly wouldn't have confessed them to her under any other circumstance, and he was fairly sure she wouldn't have risked doing the same. He pressed a kiss to the side of her head and his arm looped around her shoulders. "I know what you mean, and for that at least I'm glad it happened. I'm just sorry that it had to come to that to stop me being such an asshat."

Pepper snorted and rubbed his chest. "You weren't that bad. Ok fine, you pretty much slept with every woman in Los Angeles, but hey, who hasn't done that?" Tony quirked an eyebrow and pursed his lips, but Pepper could read his mind and slapped where she'd just rubbed. "Not me, idiot!"

"I didn't say anything!" he laughed, pulling her a little closer. "You have a filthy mind, Potts."

She tutted and rolled her eyes, nudging him gently with her elbow as they approached the deck in front of the cabin. "Right, that's rich coming from you."

Tony merely smiled, grabbing them a table on the deck and pulling her chair out for her before going to order for them both. Pepper didn't usually mind him doing that, because usually he would order a normal, or at least a human sized portion of food. This time, however, she was sure there wouldn't be any food left for the rest of the restaurant when he brought back a tray with two plates stacked high with bacon, the same with pancakes, eggs and toast. He saw her look as he sat down and grabbed a fork. "Yours is coming in a sec, I couldn't carry everything." She gaped at him and he grinned. "Kidding. I got this to share. Dig in."

Surprisingly, or perhaps not when you consider it, but Tony managed to eat nearly everything he'd bought. They walked back along the beach after leaving Jo's, hand in hand. Pepper was fairly quiet as they walked, she was too busy thinking. She was more than happy with how everything had turned out – their relationship – but she was beginning to think that they'd been lulled into a false sense of security. That even though everything seemed fine now, they were merely in the eye of the storm, and something else was bound to happen. It was probably to be expected given what they'd both been through, but Pepper didn't like the way she was thinking. She wanted to be able to relax, and although she knew she was safe with Tony...a part of her didn't feel that way. Some part of her brain was still trying to persuade her that this was a bad idea, that being with Tony would only get her hurt one way or another. Stubbornly, she tried to push those thoughts out of her head, squeezing Tony's hand and smiling as he looked at her. "Can we go to the lagoon before we head back?" she asked. "I feel like going for a swim."

Tony nodded, oblivious to her inner dilemma and changed course to where the lagoon was a little further along the beach. "Sure, but you didn't put anything on to swim in."

Pepper bit her lip and pretended to think for a second before giving him a cheeky grin, her eyes twinkling. "Hmm...no, I guess I didn't." She sighed. "What a shame huh? And I don't want to get my clothes wet…guess I'll have to swim naked."

He stared after her, slack jawed, letting go of her hand as she kept walking. Pepper Potts, personal assistant, perfect lady, and complete straight lace, was volunteering to go skinny dipping.

Skinny dipping.

Skinny.

Dipping.

He raced after her as they reached the opening to the lagoon and his jaw nearly fell off his face. Pepper was already in the process of pulling her shirt off and she turned her head to look at him over her shoulder, dropping her shorts in the process. "You need to catch up, Tony." She said sweetly, crouching down and dipping her foot in the warm water with a sigh. "And didn't your mother ever teach you it's rude to stare?"

"She did." He said after a moment, watching as she slid effortlessly into the water. "But I don't think she considered this particular scenario." He managed to clear his head after a few seconds and stepped forwards, whipping his shirt and shorts off before telling her to back up. He stepped back a bit and then took a running jump, bringing his knees up to his chest and dive bombing into the water, eliciting a squeal from Pepper as she was splashed, laughing. He surfaced and shook his head like a dog, treading water. "Points out of ten?"

She hummed quietly, drifting toward him. "At least a seven," she replied flippantly, before adding with a devilish smile, "I can do better." She got out of the pool and took a running start before she arced up into a graceful but shallow dive, surfacing a few feet in front of him and shrugging when she saw the look on his face. "I'd give it a nine," she sighed over-dramatically, barely hiding her grin.

Tony was staring again, but this time a look of awe on his face. He swam forwards, grinning. "Wow." He mumbled. "How and where did you learn to do that? And why have I never seen you do it before?"

She couldn't hold back her giggle when he swam towards her, his eyes wide. He was just so...cute when he was pleasantly surprised. She swam to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, her legs treading water as she gazed up at him, batting her eyelashes. "I was the diving captain in high school and college," she informed him, "and you've never seen me do it before because we've never been swimming before."

"Not for lack of trying." He said, his hands at her hips rubbing slow circles into her skin. "Do you mean to tell me, Potts, that you've willingly held back this valuable information the entire time we've known each other?" He asked softly, tutting and shaking his head. "That's not very nice, is it? I've always been very open with all my...extracurricular's."

She let out another short laugh and trailed her fingers along the back of his neck, her smile growing. "I thought it best, Mr. Stark," she tilted he head playfully, pressing herself against him and grinning when she heard him grunt softly, "to keep some secrets to myself. Where would my allure and charm be without mystery, hmm?"

"Very true, Potts." He murmured. "But I can't help wondering now what other, perhaps more interesting secrets you may be hiding." His eyes dipped to her lips for a second. "And I think I'll very much enjoy finding them out."

Pepper giggled softly, her fingers playing with the damp hair at the back of his neck. "Less talking." She whispered as she saw his eyes shift. "More kissing."

"Yes ma'am." He agreed, leaning forward and sealing his mouth over hers. He was pretty sure he'd never get tired of kissing her, her lips were like silk, the sweetest thing he'd ever tasted, and so warm. He slid his hand up to the back of her head, threading through her hair as he nibbled her bottom lip, begging for entry. She shuddered at his gentle touch, instantly opening her mouth into the kiss at his gentle teasing. Her fingers pressed into his lower back as one hand came around to rest on his chest, feeling his heartbeat against her palm, her tongue searching for his. He hummed against her mouth, smoothing his other hand over her ass with a grin when she bucked her hips against him. "Mmm, you like that dontcha?" He whispered. "Kinky, Potts."

Her hips seemed to have a mind of her own when she felt his hand on her ass. She growled at his comment, moving her lips to his jaw and rocking her hips into his again. " S'not kinky." she practically whined, " S'normal."

He chuckled throatily as his touch turned her to mush, barely suppressing a groan of his own as her wicked hips met his again. "Mmm, but I bet you can be kinky, can't you Virginia?" He whispered in her ear, nipping to add effect.

She gasped at the sound of her name when it fell from his lips- it was wrapped in promises she couldn't name but made her quiver in his arms. She hooked her leg around his hip and licked a trail from his collarbone up to his jaw, her hands sliding up to his shoulders. "You have no idea," she murmured. His Adam's apple bobbed as her tongue blazed a trail across his skin. He captured her lips again in a heated kiss, one hand grasping her thigh and the other lifting her up against him by her buttocks. His intentions were clear, he just hoped she'd be ok with them as he slowly waded through the water to bump her against the rocky ledge of the pool. She kissed him back, matching his urgency, wrapping her legs around his waist as he lifted her up. The water added a whole new level to this and she would have been lying if she said she didn't love the slick slide of wet skin against wet skin- when he backed her into the ledge she gasped, pulling back enough to meet his gaze, hoping that he could tell she wasn't protesting. She'd definitely gotten better since the last time they'd tried, she'd learned to trust him even at her most vulnerable, and she knew he'd never hurt her, she just needed to keep hold of that thought.

He could see the green flag, but he had to be sure when she pulled back. Stroking her thighs softly through the water, he pressed another tender kiss to her lips and stared her right in the eye. "Promise you'll say something if it gets too much?" He whispered. "I don't want to see that look in your eye again and know it's my fault."

She sighed and cupped his face in her hands, pressing a gentle kiss to his lips. "It wasn't your fault the first time." she promised, "And I will if it does, but it won't." When he still didn't move she whined quietly, dropping her hand to brush her fingers along his length and scooting closer. "Please, Tony. I need you."

He sucked in a breath and tenderly moved forward to kiss her again, less urgent than a moment ago but still with the same passion. He wrapped his arm tighter around her, using one hand to position himself before surging forward gently, groaning into her mouth. He stayed there for a moment, not wanting to move from the complete sense of perfection, but soon he found himself rolling his hips languidly into hers. She let out a breath against his lips and hiked her legs higher around him to change the angle, letting out a quiet moan and sliding her hands into his damp hair. He didn't move. She groaned again and dug her heels into the backs of his thighs, bucking against him just as he started to move. She moved with him, lips attaching to his neck as she mouthed and sucked at his skin, fingernails scratching against his scalp. Tony closed his eyes and groaned, the sensation of moving inside her, and her mouth attacking his neck spiking pleasure down his spine. He smoothed his hands along her thighs, using the same slow, deep movement to elicit squeaks of pleasure from Pepper. "Fuck...so good..."

She didn't even have words for the sounds she was making. It was just so perfect- he was hitting spots inside her that she didn't even know existed and she was squirming against him, heels looked around his ass as she bucked into his thrusts, fingers digging into his shoulders as she threw her head back and groaned loudly. With her head thrown back, he took revenge on the frankly should-be-illegal things she'd been doing to his neck and began licking and sucking her skin, not as hard as he had the time she'd had the panic attack, just enough to get her making all sorts of interesting noises. He was having a tough time keeping a damn hold on her though, the way she was writhing against him. Not that he was complaining because it was doing marvellous things for him too. There was no possible way for her to pick a sensation to focus on. She could focus on the way he was moving inside her, around her, she could focus on the tease of his hot tongue against her skin or the scrape of his teeth, the scratch of his goatee and the firmness of his muscles under her shoulders. It was too much, and it wasn't enough. She gasped as he tried to keep hold of her, his work-roughened hands slipping on her wet skin, and arched her neck, biting her lip. "Tony...please..."

He kissed his way up her neck to her lips, sealing his mouth over hers with a groan, increasing the tempo of his thrusts. "I've got you." He whispered against her lips. "I've got you, Pepper." She let out a soft cry at the timbre of his voice and gasped, tightening her legs around him as she shattered, closing her eyes, completely swimming in him. The squeeze of her body around his was all he needed to combust completely. He pushed into her fully as he climaxed, groaning animalistic ally in her ear and tightening his grip involuntarily on her hips. He felt dizzy and melty and just completely fucking fantastic, his legs barely holding them up. He had to let go of her hips to brace himself on the rocks behind her, supporting his weight as his jello legs buckled. Pressing a soft, breathless kiss to her neck below her ear, he nuzzled against her and smiled. "You ok?"

She was fighting to catch her breath when she registered the sound of his voice and smiled, smoothing her hands along his back and kissing his shoulder. "Yes, I'm okay," she told him breathlessly, "Very okay. More than okay."

He grinned and let out a groan as he pulled out, pressing a soft, lingering kiss to her lips, his eyes drifting closed. "Mmm, I'm so proud of you." He said with as much conviction as he could muster. "I think I'm gonna marry you, Potts."

Pepper froze. Everything had been perfect up to that point. Really, everything was so perfect that she felt sure that it couldn't stay that way- her unease from earlier made a sharp comeback, and when he opened his mouth she knew why. She wasn't ready to hear that. She wasn't even ready to think about that. She made it seem as if she thought he was joking- laughed softly, pinched his nose and shimmied off the ledge and into the water with a sigh. "It's late. What time is it? We should go back."

Tony blinked and stayed where he was, staring at the rocks she'd just vacated. He turned slowly in the water, watching as she pretty much ran away from him. Swallowing his disappointment, he followed, hoisting himself out of the water where she was already getting dressed and grabbing his own clothing. He'd be lying if he'd said she wasn't scaring him. It wasn't like he'd actually proposed, she didn't have to make any kind of decision right this damn second, but the way she was acting like he shouldn't have said what he had was throwing him. They were supposed to be in a committed relationship, and in his book at least that meant that one day they were going to get married and start a family of their own. Surely she knew this? He slowly pulled his shorts back on, looking up at her. She was doing everything she could to avoid looking at him, he could tell, he'd seen her do it thousands of times when he'd done or said something embarrassing in board meetings...maybe that was it. Maybe she wanted the marriage and the babies, but not with him. Huh. Weird how that hurt more than the three months of hell they'd just escaped.

"Sorry." He said eventually, pulling his shirt back on and smoothing his hair back, trying to put his game face back on. "I, uh...stupid. Just forget I ever mentioned it." He paused for a second but couldn't help himself. "Was it stupid? Did I say something wrong?"

"No," she said, turning back to him, "Of course not. I just didn't think..." she shrugged, crossing her arms, mentally donning professional wear and makeup and her walls, "it's a little early for that, isn't it?"

He scratched the back of his head and shrugged. "I wasn't...that wasn't a proposal or anything." He said, averting his eyes. "It was a precursor. I am gonna propose one day, Pep. That's all I'm saying."

Of course now he was doing the thing with his eyes where he was clearly trying to hide the sadness with a smile and she couldn't have that. She sighed again and grabbed his hands, squeezing them gently. "It's early, okay? That's all. We haven't even been together long enough for me to...for us to know that."

Tony frowned at her slip. She wasn't sure? Why the hell not? "I'm sure." He said. "I've been sure for a long time. But that's fine, I guess. Don't sweat it." He was getting more and more unsure of himself. This was usually the point at which he'd go and escape, but he couldn't do that now. He was a new Tony. Tony Mark II, and this Tony stuck around to finish a fight rather than going off to sulk.

Pepper, on the other hand, was freaking the fuck out. It was one thing to hear a man's intentions ahead of time, but to hear it from Tony? Even this new Tony? It was scary stuff. She loved him, she knew that, and she knew she wanted to be with him, but...it was like he was trying to be too eager, to tell her what he thought she wanted to hear. And now he was still doing the puppy dog eyes and it was breaking her heart. She squeezed his hands again and kissed him softly, ignoring that he didn't seem to want to kiss her back. "I love you, Tony Stark." She said firmly. "Nothing changes that. I think...I think it's wonderful that you're thinking that far ahead, it's just...you don't need to, okay? I'm going to be here for the rest of my life either way. You don't need to put a ring on my finger, I've always been yours."

He swallowed, but he couldn't help smiling. He'd noticed before, but there was just something about her that reassured him and calmed him down. She'd always been able to do it and it was one of the many reasons he loved her. He kissed her back briefly and grabbed her hand, linking their fingers as he led them back up to the house. "I wasn't talking about right now." He repeated. "I just...I wanted you to know that I think about that stuff. Marriage and babies. Uh...do you want babies?"

And just when she'd thought she'd escaped this conversation, he threw another idea into her face and she wanted to pass out. Babies? As in...children? With Tony? Forget marriage, he had entered a whole new realm here. "I...I've never thought about it," she told him honestly. "I sort of expected to be alone for the rest of my life," she joked weakly. It was true, but it wasn't helping and she knew it. The look on his face made her frown and she squeezed his hand. "I don't know," she repeated. "I just...I don't know."

Tony felt decidedly unsure of himself. He realised, of course, how much of a mind fuck it must be that he, Tony, was talking about marriage and children, but he thought she would have given him a little credit. He wasn't such an ass that he didn't want to settle down one day, and he did. He had. But oh well, perhaps this was a conversation for another time. Or maybe not. Maybe she didn't want that with him at all. Maybe she just wanted to stay like they were. Which was fine. It was nice. But...he didn't want to say it wasn't enough, but it wasn't everything he'd imagined. He wanted all that with her, and it really hurt that she didn't feel the same way, even if he'd basically ambushed her with it. He sighed, squeezing her hand back. "It's ok. Really. I get that I'm not exactly family material and I'm a security risk or whatever." he said, smiling back forcedly. "I'd be the same if I was in your shoes."

He was being so ridiculous that she could do nothing but roll her eyes at him. "Look," she said finally, cupping his face in her hands and looking him straight in the eye, "I'm not afraid of you. I'm not leaving you. I'm not saying I don't want to have kids with you or marry you. I just don't want all of that right *now*. Okay? One day maybe we'll have little baby Starks running around." She smiled- the thought was definitely growing on her- "But not right now."

He swallowed and gazed into her eyes before dropping his, staring at his feet as a faint blush rose in his cheeks. "I came on a little strong, huh?"

She didn't answer him, she just leaned up and kissed him. He had clearly not thought about what he'd said- he'd said it because he thought he was supposed to. And that was okay. "Let's go home," she said when she'd pulled back.

He grinned from ear to ear, taking her hand again and tugging her back along the sand. But Tony being Tony, he couldn't resist teasing her again.

"Guess ring shopping tomorrow is out of the question then?"


	10. Ten

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah...don't kill me?

It had been a wonderful few months, and Tony was finding it very easy to slip into the role of loving, doting boyfriend, and found he liked it a hell of a lot easier than the playboy he used to be. Pepper was everything he needed, and wanted, and he knew he'd be wanting the same thing for the rest of his life. He hadn't raised the topic of marriage with her again, but he was sure when the time came to ask her, she would say yes. But that time wasn't now, and that was ok. She'd moved back into her apartment after allowing him to install a heap of extra security measures, including an instant distress call that would beep straight to Jarvis, who would contact him as soon as he received it. Pepper deemed it all unnecessary, but Tony wasn't going to take any chances.

He'd also come a long way with his designs he'd started for an upgraded version of the suit of armour he'd built in Afghanistan. It had gotten so he was even using it in the field of battle, having realised that his own weapons were being sold under the table, he'd done nothing but try and stop the bastards using them against American troops since he'd built it. This was one of those times, and he was flying back from another successful mission.

"Jarvis, get Pepper to run me a bath would you?" he mumbled sleepily to the AI he'd built into the suit.

"Miss Potts does not appear to be on the house grounds, sir, but I can remotely access the plumbing systems myself." he replied quickly. Tony frowned. Pepper was always waiting for him when he got home.

"Where is she Jarvis?" he asked, speeding up a little. "What time did she leave?"

"She has not entered the house at any point today, sir." Jarvis replied. Tony started to feel an uneasy sickness in his stomach. "I could re-check today's log-"

"That won't be necessary." Tony spoke over him. "Set course for her apartment." Jarvis did so and he felt the suit shift a little and speed up. There was no reason for Pepper not to be waiting for him. He'd called her that morning, and it had gone straight to voicemail, but he hadn't really thought anything of it seeing as it had been four in the morning when he'd called. It was nearing six in the evening now, and she should have got the message. There's probably a perfectly reasonable explination, he thought as he zoomed to her apartment, speeding up as he did so.

* * *

 

Life with Tony was never boring. Well, not with him, because she had managed to convince him to let her go back to her house a few days after they'd spent the day on the beach. But being in a relationship with him was like living through a maelstrom every day of her life. She wasn't sure if she loved it or it exhausted her. Probably both. Actually, definitely both. She had no doubt about his feelings for her, because he was fairly obvious about it. She had to remind him frequently to keep his hands to himself in public places, but he was wonderful. She didn't really like the fact that he'd near enough perfected the suit – but only because he'd taken it upon himself to become a superhero. The suit itself was actually pretty interesting, not that she'd ever tell him that, but he kept putting himself in harm's way, and that's what she didn't like. She made him swear that he would update her every single time he went anywhere in the suit, and when he did she took the day off work, spending it waiting for him to return home. She wouldn't have been able to concentrate at the office anyway, and she needed to be as near to him as she could. Besides, after he came home that first time with a long gash right down the middle of his back, she knew someone needed to be there to patch him up after he got home from these 'missions'. She was that person.

And for a while, that was about as close to the danger as she got, but when she woke up in the early hours of one morning to the sound of glass smashing, she knew all that was about to change. Pepper practically leapt out of bed, heart pounding. If it was a robber he was in for a fright- she was barely wearing clothes because of the air conditioning being out. Tony's t-shirt and a pair of undies were basically the only clothes on her, in fact. Still, she tiptoed to the door and peeked out around it, gasping and covering her mouth at what she saw- or rather, who she saw.

It was Raza.

But it couldn't have been, she'd seen Tony kill him. She'd watched as the man died in front of her...but then she realised she hadn't seen that at all. All she'd seen was the missile hit Raza, they'd never checked to see if he was dead.

Pepper backed away from him, hands still clamped over her mouth as she did so, but he had heard her gasp. He was there within moments and she tried to push past him but failed as she was shoved against the wall, a sickening sense of deja vu' rushing through her as she brought her knee up, aiming for his crotch. He snarled at her and kicked her, hard, in the shin. She knew better than to make noise. He didn't have to remind her of that.

"There you are, whore." He hissed, smiling evilly as she trembled in his grasp. "Long time no see."

"Get the hell off me!" Pepper snarled, struggling furiously, whimpering when he shoved her against the wall again. "Tony will be here any minute, you've probably set off a dozen alarms!"

He laughed darkly, which wasn't the reaction of fear or worry that Pepper had been hoping for. "Unfortunately for you, my dear," Raza said silkily, raising his hand to her cheek and brushing his fingers along her skin before slapping her hard, causing her to stumble to the side. "I have friends in high places." He pulled a small rectangular device out of his pocket and waved it at her. "I'm afraid none of your little security features are working." He bent and grabbed her arm, yanking her up to her feet and closing his hand around her throat, smiling when she let out a sob. "We're going to have some fun, you and I."

* * *

 

Tony was speeding towards Pepper's apartment as quick as the suit would take him, but the problem was he was halfway across the Atlantic and no matter how fast his boots went, it was gonna take a while. He'd not stopped calling since Jarvis had told him she hadn't been to his mansion, and worry was steadily seeping through him.

"Come on." He muttered, willing the boots to go faster. Jarvis seemed to have realised the severity of what was going on and had diverted all power from the suit to the thrusters and Tony was now bearing down on US airspace. He radioed in for permission to enter and sped towards Pepper's apartment, not caring if he took any startled birds with him. He landed with a loud boom in front of her apartment block, the cement beneath his feet crumbling and forming a crater. He bounced out of the crater and zoomed straight up to her door, slamming through the door as if it were made of glass and coming face to face with a semi-naked Raza in the process of moving Pepper's position. He stopped for a moment, blinking and taking in the scene, not sure he fully believed what was going on before Raza moved, diving for a gun that was in his bag, probably to use on Pepper, but Tony was too quick for him. With a yell of rage, he flew at Raza, grabbing the man in a tackle and slamming him into the ground. Tony wasted no time, this time making sure the bastard was dead, repeatedly punching him in the face until all that was left was a horrific mess of what once was a human head. He turned to Pepper once he was done and swallowed. She was lying on her side on the carpet, hands tied behind her back, her hair matted and her eyes red from where she'd been crying. He quickly reached over to her and untied her hands, lifting the faceplate of his helmet as he did so. "Pepper. Honey, can you hear me? It's gonna be alright, you're safe now."

She barely even registered anything that was happening. It didn't matter that Tony was there because the damage had already been done. And she was so cold. She didn't even feel it when he untied her. She didn't see him, not really. She just saw someone else with the ability to hurt her, and she pulled away from him violently, curling in on herself and shaking violently. She would have been sick if there was anything left to be sick with, but as it was she let out a dry sob, eyes squeezed shut. Tony stared, hands out (he'd been in the process of trying to get her to stand). He quickly unhooked the rest of the armour and stripped down to his under suit before crouching beside her, his own hands beginning to shake.

"Baby, it's me, it's Tony." He said softly, trying to keep the fear from his voice. "You're safe now, he can't hurt you any more, alright? But we need to get you to a hospital."

She didn't answer him. She didn't say a word the entire way to the hospital, still curled up into a ball even in the passenger seat of the car. When they finally did get to the hospital, he tried to help her in, but she shrunk away from him again, wrapping her arms around herself. The hospital was cold like she was but sterile like she wasn't. He was there, but she didn't feel it- she didn't feel the IV going in, either, but she was sure she was dehydrated. The doctors had told Tony to wait outside while she was examined, and then once done told him to leave, that she was asleep, and quite possibly wouldn't want him, but he wasn't about to take that risk. He quietly entered her room while she slept and sat in the chair next to her bed, debating whether he should take her hand or not. In the end, he settled for just watching her sleep, sitting back in the chair and not noticing when he drifted off himself.

She woke to the smell of disinfectant. When she opened her eyes, he was the first thing she saw, and, instead of being relieved, her throat tightened. She had been naive- they both had been- to think that leaving Afghanistan would leave the risks behind. She loved him more than anything or anyone, but if being with him meant being attacked, she couldn't do it. If there was one thing she knew about herself, it was that she deserved safety, and just going off past experiences she knew she wasn't going to get that if she stuck around. Tears pricked her eyes even thinking about it, but she had to stay strong. She knew if she let her guard down, if she let him persuade her, she'd have no chance. She never could say no to him, but she needed to learn how.

She watched as his chest rose and fell with his breathing, thinking back to the last time she'd been in this position after she'd been rescued and realising how different everything had become. Last time she was eager for him to wake, but now she just wished he'd stay asleep forever if it meant she didn't have to do this. But it seemed that life wasn't quite on her side, because not five seconds later, Tony started to stir, rubbing at his eyes like a child – one of the things she loved about him, she thought – and then snapping to attention when he realised she was awake. He swallowed and shifted in his seat, meeting her eyes with uncertainty.

"Hey." He said hoarsely, leaning forward a little. "How are you feeling?" he could see the redness behind her eyes, something he'd learned to mean that she was about to cry. He reached out for her hand and gently covered it with his own, squeezing gently. "I'm sorry I wasn't there to protect you. I'm so sorry. But he can't hurt you anymore. He's dead, sweetheart, okay? He's gone now." He took a deep breath and waited for her to speak, swallowing when she didn't. "You...will you say something? You're making me nervous."

She tried to blink back the tears, but they slipped down her cheeks all the same and she raised her free hand to swipe them away quickly. "This...Tony, this isn't working."

"Don't say that." He said before she could get another word out, his eyes widening in terror. "Pepper, please, don't..."

"I can't do this, Tony." She croaked, letting out a small sob and letting go of his hand. "I love you. I do, I love you more than I've ever loved anybody in my life but I'm not safe like this. I'm not safe as long as it's known that we're connected."

His entire world was falling apart. He stared at her for nearly a full minute, unable to believe what was happening. He'd been driving himself mad by blaming himself for what happened, and then she confirmed it. When the weight of her words had sunk in, he blinked back the tears and took a breath. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you." He said quietly, his heart hammering in his chest. "But...I can do better. Please, Pepper, just give me a chance. I'm sorry, please don't do this." He furrowed his brow as his own tears spilled down his cheeks. "I'm begging you."

Pepper just shook her head, closing her eyes and sobbing again, her hands coming up to cover her face as she cried. Tony stared at her for a full minute before averting his eyes, nostrils flaring. He ran a hand over his face and through his hair before standing up. His chest felt constricted, like he couldn't breathe. Of all the ways he'd ever feared their breaking up, this scenario had never crossed his mind. He'd failed her, and she couldn't forgive him. He took a deep, shuddering breath and grabbed his coat, unable to look at her when he spoke again. "Give Happy a call once you're ready to leave, okay?" he said gruffly.

Pepper pulled her hands away from her face and nodded, looking up at him. He looked broken, but she knew she had to do this. She'd never be safe with him. "Thank you." She mumbled, shuddering. Tony slowly pulled his jacket on, finding the task more difficult than it should have been, and then he turned to her again, his eyes red and puffy.

"I love you." He whispered, his jaw tensing as he silently pleaded with her to take it back, to throw her arms around him and say it back. But she didn't. She just looked away. Tony dropped his gaze, turned, and walked out of the door, leaving the pieces of his heart with her.


	11. Eleven

It'd been two weeks since she'd last seen Tony, and if she was completely honest, she hadn't expected him to stay away. After he'd left, it hadn't really sunk in that she'd effectively dumped him. It felt like one of their little spats, that he was giving her time and they'd make up later, but when the two week mark came around and she hadn't had so much as a text from him, she started to worry that she'd done the wrong thing. She missed him. She missed the way he'd call her every five minutes when they were apart, she missed the way he'd turn up unexpectedly at her door at three in the afternoon on a Saturday with a movie and a pint of ice cream, she missed being able to use him as a security blanket when the nightmares came, but she didn't have any of that now. Now, when she woke from the nightmares, sweating and screaming, the only thing she had to reach for was the cold pillow next to her, and it just didn't do a thing to help. Tony was in pretty much the same boat. He'd spent the fortnight apart brooding and trying to focus on anything and everything that didn't involve thinking about Pepper. He'd ignored Cedric when he'd brought Pepper's resignation letter in for him to sign, telling him to pay her sick leave for the notice she'd had to give so she wouldn't have to come in, and got back to his work. But when night came, and he finally managed to drift off, he'd wake up as soon as he'd reach for Pepper and she wasn't there, and then he'd stay awake because he couldn't handle waking up again and being alone. Everything was aching. His body, his heart, everything. All he wanted to do was to call her, to hear her voice and hear her say she loved him one more time, but he didn't call because it was best for her for him to keep away. She'd said so herself.

It felt a lot longer than two weeks, but at the same time felt like it was only yesterday. He was busy working on trying to find out exactly why his weapons had been in Afghanistan in the wrong hands, and he felt like he was doing well – his mind being occupied with something other than the hole in his heart every waking second – but it was midway through the third week that showed him he wasn't doing well at all. He'd grabbed the paper and skipped ahead to the business pages – the stocks had dipped a tad when the media got hold of the fact that Pepper had left – and that's when he saw the main article. It was breaking news, taking up the entire first page of the section, and Tony couldn't stop staring at it.

**Virginia Potts Switches Alliances**

_Yes, in a frankly startling turn of events, Virginia Potts, formerly of Stark International, has not only left us pondering on the reasons for her departure, but has now accepted a position at Stark's rival's company, Hammer Industries. Two weeks ago, we received information from a reliable source that Potts and Stark had parted ways, at least on a business basis, and this has been confirmed at a small press conference held at HI as Potts has taken the position of CFO. Potts, who started out as Head of Accounting back when Stark was main supplier and consultant to the DoD, moved quickly into the position of Stark's Personal Assistant and, most of the time, stand-in CEO when the man himself was absent. Recently, the pair were both kidnapped on a routine weapons demonstration in the Middle East, and subsequently rescued, and reports had registered that the two were in a relationship of a more personal nature, but one has to wonder what Tony Stark himself has to say about this new team consisting of his biggest rival and his (ex?) lover. Stark was unavailable for comment._

Tony slowly crumpled up the newspaper, a muscle ticking in his jaw. She'd not only left him, but she'd left him for the man he hated more than anyone in the world? His rival? The guy that had – unfortunately for the government – taken over his weapons contracts? Jesus, what the hell had he done so wrong that this had happened?

But it hadn't been an easy decision for Pepper. She'd been approached by Hammer Industries, from Justin Hammer himself, many times in the hopes that she'd leave Tony, but she'd never given the prospect much thought. She'd even shown a few of his offers to Tony, who'd never taken them seriously, merely laughing and sending a gloating e-mail Justin's way, but when she'd been offered a CFO position days after leaving Tony, she had to take it. It was nothing personal to Tony, it was just too good an offer to pass up. It was low risk, low maintenance, maybe not as much pay as Tony's had been, but then her pay had always been higher because, well, she had to deal with Tony a lot of the time. Working for Hammer was easy. Working for Hammer while trying to avoid any mention of Tony...was not easy. Hammer liked to bring him up, and he loved to bring up the fact that he'd stolen her. She didn't bother correcting him because he was her boss and she didn't have the energy to. Business dinners were about as frequent with Justin as pizza at two in the morning was with Tony. He'd take her out to the nicest French restaurants, Italian bistros, just to discuss work with her. And when she gave him something to sign, he signed it. And he didn't disappear in a big metal suit and wrack her with nervousness every other night.

But the simple fact was that he wasn't Tony, and nothing he did could make her stop thinking about him.

* * *

Jesus Christ, it was Obie.

He'd spent the weekend hacking into Stark International's shipping manifest, (which was the first thing that alerted him that something was wrong, having to hack into his own system) and he'd drawn up all of the shipments over the past few months, going back a month before his kidnap. And then six months. Finally, after sifting through seven year's worth of shipments, he couldn't take any more. Obadiah had been dealing under the table with the Taliban, Al Qaida, and pretty much every other terrorist group he could think of. He didn't even want to contemplate how long his oldest friend had been doing this, but he knew he had to stop him.

"Jarvis, prepare the suit." He barked at his AI, hurrying down to the basement. His foot had just hit the bottom step when his phone rang, and he pulled it out of his pocket to turn it off, but froze when he saw Pepper's name. Despite the pain in his chest at the thought of her again, he hit answer and brought the phone up to his ear, striding forwards. "Pepper?"

There was a blinding pain in his head and his entire body went rigid. He crashed to the floor, phone still in his hand, and he could faintly hear Pepper calling his name before it was stepped on and crushed. With his entire body seemingly paralysed, he couldn't see who the foot belonged to until he was rolled onto his back, and he wasn't surprised to see Obadiah standing above him, holding a small device in his hands.

"Easy, easy." He said, a broad grin on his face as Tony struggled against his paralysis to get up. "You remember this one, right?" he asked, waving the device as he reached up and pulled an ear bud out of each of his ears. "It's a shame the government didn't approve it, there's so many applications for causing short term paralysis." He shook his head and sighed, stowing the items in a bag he was holding in his hand before crouching down next to him, pulling out a claw-like device. "When I ordered that hit on you, I was worried I was killing the golden goose." He chuckled to himself and moved the claw over Tony's arc, locking it in place around it and pressing a button that whirred it into life. "But you see, it was just fate that you survived, you had one last golden egg to give." The claw clamped down onto his arc and a micro laser started cutting into the metal plating around it, causing Tony to panic. He was trying, and succeeding, to pull out the arc. Once the laser had done its job, he yanked it free from Tony's chest, grinning to himself as he stared at the arc. Tony's breathing became laboured almost instantly as the shards in his chest began to move closer to his heart and he stared at Obadiah. "Do you think that just because you have an idea, that it belongs to you? Your father helped give us the atomic bomb, now what kind of world would we be in if he'd been as selfish as you? Hmm?" he shook his head and laughed, stowing both the claw and the arc in the bag and zipping it closed. "It's your ninth symphony, Tony, your legacy. A new generation of weapons with this at its heart, weapons that will help steer the world back on course, put the balance of power in the right hands, in our hands. I wish you could have seen my prototype. It's not as...conservative as yours, but I think it'll do the trick." He patted Tony on the shoulder and stood up, shouldering the bag and walking towards the door. "Too bad you had to involve Pepper in this, I would have preferred it if she'd lived." He turned at the door and winked at Tony. "Good bye, Anthony. Say hi to your Dad for me."

Tony could already feel the paralysis wearing off as Obie left, but he knew he didn't have long. He wracked his brain for anything that would help him, but he knew he was done for. He couldn't call anyone with his smashed up phone, if only he had a spare arc reactor. But he did! Pepper had mounted the first one mere feet away from him. Over five painstaking minutes passed until he was able to flip himself over and crawl to the table where the mounted arc lay, straining to reach it before bringing it crashing down onto the floor. The arc tumbled out of its Plexiglas box and Tony quickly plugged it back in. His chest loosened immediately, but he could definitely tell it was an older arc.

"Jarvis!" he gasped. "Where's Pepper?"

* * *

Pepper had figured it out around about the same time Tony had. She knew she shouldn't have been thinking about it at all, but she was going to therapy now, and talking about Afghanistan made her suspicious. Someone had to have told the terrorists that she and Tony were coming, but the only people who knew were military personnel- all of whom she trusted, and all of whom had been surprised- and Obadiah.

And then it all clicked into place. It was him, it had to be, which meant that he needed to be stopped. It wasn't her job, but she didn't know if Tony knew- so she headed to SI, called Tony, and tried not to be disappointed when he promptly hung up on her. This was important, dammit! He didn't need to behave like such a child when she was trying to help him. Resigning herself to the fact he wasn't about to answer her, she decided to do a little snooping around of her own. She snuck into the building on the pretence of picking up a few forgotten things from her office, immediately veering off into Tony's and logging into his computer. She remembered him saying something about...oh what was it? Ghost drives! Once she'd finally found the folder she was looking for, she was at first confused, because there were a lot of blueprints with Obadiah's name on them, but the designs looked a hell of a lot like Tony's first suit. She opened a few more files and found tons of shipping manifests, all going to various non-US buyers, and then something that made her heart stop.

Tony had never Told her, mainly because he didn't remember it all that clearly, but when they'd first been brought into those caves, after he'd been patched up, they'd made a video of him. He'd been delirious, and so thought it was a dream, but the video clearly showed Tony slumped in a chair and two gunmen standing next to him.

" _Obadiah Stane, you didn't not tell us that the target you wanted us to kill was the great Tony Stark._ "

That was all she needed to hear. She shut the video off and quickly closed all the files, hurrying back out of the room and calling Tony again, cursing when she just got a dial tone. She tried the main house but only got his voicemail.

"Why do you even have a phone?" she hissed as she stepped out of the main entrance and into the deserted car park. She'd just pressed the phone to her ear again, calling another number to try and contact Jarvis, when the ground started to rumble. Startled, Pepper staggered back and gasped as the ground cracked in front of her and a huge, metal...something burst from beneath the concrete. She didn't even have to ponder who it was behind the mask before one gigantic, metal arm was raised and the turret of a gun was pointed at her.


	12. Twelve

Tony was putting everything he had into speeding towards Pepper's cell phone signature. He had a lock on her, and apparently she was standing in the car park at Stark International. Tony didn't think this boded well, and he was right because as he approached the building, he saw something that made time slow. Pepper was cowering beneath a huge robot, and the robot was pointing a gun right at her.

"Stane!" Tony bellowed, knowing exactly who was inside the robot. The enormous metal figure turned slowly, only to be knocked completely off his feet as Tony smashed into him, carrying him through the solid concrete wall that led onto the highway. He vaguely heard Pepper scream as he bounced off the road and righted himself, watching as Stane heaved the larger suit to its feet. Cars were swerving around them and Tony had to jump out of the way as one sped straight for them, headed for Stane. Stane simply clamped one claw-like hand around the car and hoisted it over his head, facing Tony. "Put them down!" he yelled.

Stane laughed. "Collateral damage, Tony." He growled and shifted, ready to throw the car at him, but Tony was too quick. A blast of energy pulsed through his chest piece and Stane was thrown backwards, causing the car to fall. Tony only just caught it in time, setting it down and then feeling Obadiah's retaliation in the form of a punch, launching him into the side of a thankfully empty bus. Stane lumbered over to him, picking him up like a rag doll from the wreckage and hoisting him up above his head. "For thirty years I've been holding you up!" he threw Tony onto the ground and then grabbed him again, flinging him upwards into the air. "Nothing's going to stand in my way! Least of all, you!" Tony's power was draining fast. He knew the old arc wasn't powerful enough to keep the armour going for very long, and this fight with Stane was fast wearing it out. He managed to right himself as he fell through the air and hovered above the ground, staring him down. Stane laughed. "Impressive, you've upgraded your armour, I've made a few upgrades of my own." There was a terrifying grinding noise and then flame erupted from Stane's feet, sending him slowly skyward. Tony stared, wide eyed and then shot off into the sky, climbing as high as he possibly could. But Stane was just as fast. Jarvis kept shooting off percentages as the power drained due to the sustained flight, and then Stane caught up with him and grabbed his boot, killing the thrusters. He yanked Tony closer and grinned behind his metal mask. "You had a great idea, Tony, but my suit is more advanced in every way!"

Tony tilted his head, smiling to himself as a thin sheet of ice started spreading over Stane's metal suit the higher they climbed. "How'd you solve the icing problem?"

"Icing problem?" Stane asked, and within seconds his world went black as the suit shut down.

"Might wanna look into it." Tony jibbed before smartly cuffing Stane's head and sending him plummeting back to earth. He had just enough time to release a breath he didn't know he'd been holding before Jarvis informed him they were running on emergency backup power and he too began falling, struggling to stay stable in the air with only one boot functioning. He managed to find Stark International's rooftop and stumbled down onto it, ripping one gauntlet off and flipping the faceplate up. "Potts?" he panted, using the inbuilt mouthpiece to call Pepper's cell. She answered immediately, still on ground level. She was unable to swallow her emotions at first, because the sound of his voice overwhelmed her. She had been sure that Obadiah would kill him, and the fact that she was suddenly hearing his voice nearly killed her.

"Tony! Oh my God, are you okay?"

Relief washed over him as he heard her voice. "I'm almost out of power, I gotta get out of this thing, I'll be right there."

There was a loud boom behind him and, dreading what he'd find, he turned to face Obadiah again. Flipping the faceplate down, he lifted up his arm and...realised he'd taken that gauntlet off. Obadiah swung his huge metal arm and damn near took Tony's head off, sending him flying, but Tony caught himself, blasted his one functioning boot repulsor and soared through the air, repeating the same action on Obadiah. But Obadiah was too quick, he grabbed Tony around the middle and began to crush him. Warning messages flashed across Tony's HUD and Jarvis rattled off which weapons were functioning. "Flares!" he yelled, activating the tiny fireworks in his boots. They did their job, blinding Obadiah momentarily, giving Tony a chance to hide after he dashed away. "Potts, you there? This isn't working, we're gonna have to overload the reactor and blast the roof." He hissed, praying Pepper was still at the end of the line.

"How are you gonna do that?" came her quiet, terrified question, and Tony felt awful for laying this all on her.

"You're gonna do it!" He hissed. "Go to the central console, open up all the circuits. When I get clear of the roof I'll let you know, you're gonna hit the master bypass button." He looked tentatively around the corner he was hidden behind. "It'll fry everything up here."

Pepper swallowed and closed her eyes for a second before gathering all her courage and quickly stepping into the building. "Okay, I'm going in now."

"Make sure you wait til I clear the roof, I'll buy you some time." Tony whispered before he jumped out from behind his hiding spot and blasted off onto Stane's back. Jarvis quickly analysed Stane's suit and located his targeting system, which Tony easily ripped out, flinging over his shoulder. "This looks important." He mumbled, but he wasn't quick enough. Stane reached behind him and grabbed Tony's head, throwing him off and ripping his helmet off in the process. Tony skidded across the glass ceiling of the building and staggered to his feet.

"I never had a taste for this sort of thing, but I must admit, I'm deeply enjoying the suit!"

Pepper was frantically pushing buttons, flipping switches, and panicking. She looked up and saw Tony on the glass roof, her heart breaking when she realized what she'd have to do. And she did have to do it- Stane would kill Tony if she didn't kill him first. "It's ready, Tony, get off the roof!" Stane was firing everything he had at him, but because he'd ripped out his targeting system, the only thing getting pummelled was the glass he was on, which shattered beneath him, sending him falling through the roof. He just about managed to grab on to the ledge as Stane rattled on about how proud his father would have been.

"Pepper! Time to hit the button!"

She had known that was coming, but she still couldn't quite do it. Afghanistan flashed back into her mind, the gunshot, the sight of his face as he held her, dying. Irrationally she made one more fighting try to express that- "Tony, you'll die!" and trembled at the force of what she knew he'd say, what she knew she'd have to do.

'Well no shit, Pepper' was the first thought that flashed through his head.

"Just do it!" He yelled back as Obie's aim got dangerously close.

"How ironic, Tony!" The older man shouted to him. "Trying to rid the world of weapons, you gave it it's best one ever." He aimed another shot at Tony and nearly knocked him off the ledge, making him drop down, barely holding on with one hand.

"Push it!" He practically screamed at Pepper.

The next few minutes were a little fuzzy. Evidently Pepper had indeed pushed the button because there was a low humming sound and he was thrown up and over the ledge, landing with a thump out of the way of the blast of energy. He heard Obie's screams, heard him teeter and fall into the reactor core, and winced as the entire thing exploded. He laid back against the concrete roof, a small smile gracing his lips as he finally knew that the danger was over. Whether he lived or not didn't matter. Obie was dead, his weapons and company were safe. He fell unconscious with the sound of Pepper's voice filling his ears.

The woman herself had run hell for leather as the building exploded. Luckily, people had started clearing out when word got around that there were two freaking robots fighting on the roof, so no one had been injured. She hoped. Once the silence filled the air, Pepper knew she had to get up there to at least make sure Tony was ok. She couldn't get hold of him by the phone any more, and she feared the worst. When she finally got up to the roof, the place was already teeming with guys in suits. How they got up there without her noticing was baffling to Pepper, but she'd been noticed, and one of the men came over to her. After a long conversation in which both parties identified themselves – he turned out to be an Agent Phil Coulson of SHIELD – Pepper left. Tony was alive, but her life was any easier for it. What had happened hadn't changed a thing, if anything it had only proved her point more. Sure, this time it had been her that had sought the danger out, but it was still revolving around Tony. She went back to work and she didn't tell Justin about that night- Justin, who refused his title of Mr. Hammer gracefully instead of obnoxiously. What good would come of saying anything to him? He was still taking her to company dinners, and as long as that was going on she wasn't going to risk ruffling his feathers.

* * *

When Tony woke the next morning, it was to clean sheets, a shockingly white room and the sun streaming in through the window to his right. Little of the things surrounding him helped to clarify if he was alive or dead, until he noticed the suited man in the doorway to his left, standing with his hands clasped in front of him and a small smile on his face. Tony shifted a little uncomfortably and sat up. "Can I help you, buddy?" the man smiled a little wider and stepped into the room, holding out one hand and speaking as Tony shook it.

"My name is Agent Coulson, I work at the Strategic Homeland-"

Tony winced as his head throbbed with every word that came out of the man's mouth. He rubbed his eyes and groaned softly. "Just cut to the chase. I take it I survived my little flash dance on the roof of my building?"

Coulson laughed softly and nodded, reaching inside his jacket and pulling out a few slips of paper. "You did indeed. The building though, not so much. And neither did Mr Stane." He handed the papers to Tony and then took a seat next to his bed. "You have a press conference tomorrow, those are your notes. Our organisation things it'd be best if you didn't mention the fact that you're the guy in the shiny metal suit. You know the press is calling you Iron Man?"

"Well that's just inaccurate." Tony mumbled, flipping through the cards. "So, I'm supposed to say that it's a body guard, and we don't know who the other guy was?" he looked up at Coulson disbelievingly. "And you think the public is gonna buy this?"

"It's a lot easier to explain." Said Coulson. "We're also saying that Mr Stane is vacationing with his own plane. Small aircraft have such poor safety records."

"It's kind of flimsy, don't you think?" Tony asked, smirking at him.

"This isn't my first rodeo, Mr Stark." Coulson replied, standing again. "Just stick to the cards and this will all be behind you." He turned to leave but Tony called out to him.

"Hey...is Pepper ok?" he asked. Coulson shot him a confused look. "Potts? Virginia? About five-seven, red hair, legs that go for about a mile..."

"Oh, yes." Coulson realised who he was talking about. "Ah, 'Pepper' wasn't admitted to the hospital, I haven't seen her since she left your building last night."

"Oh." Tony said quietly. He was frankly stunned at this bit of news. It wasn't like he was at deaths door or anything, just a few minor scratches here and there as the armour had taken the brunt of the battle, but the fact that Pepper hadn't even come to check on him, to make sure he was even alive...he really must have done a number on her if she didn't even care a little. He managed to keep his façade going long enough for Coulson to leave the room, glad the agent hadn't seen him crying.

* * *

More than anything, Pepper wanted to go visit Tony. The thing was...she couldn't cave now. Besides, she was pretty sure he never wanted to see her again, and if her love for him wasn't going to go away -and at this point that was one of the only things she was sure of - she had to pretend, for his benefit. Because he deserved to move on, and she deserved to be able to let him go. She had made a rash decision and she needed to live with it. Even if that meant she was ripping herself to pieces with missing him.

She did, however, tune in and catch his press conference a few days later, intrigued as to how he was going to handle the fact that every single person in LA was now suspecting him of being some kind of super hero. Or android. She watched him fumble over his cards, smiling fondly as Rhodey obviously told him to stick to them.

And then he just didn't, and she knew she'd made the right decision. He outed himself as 'Iron Man', and now every single bad guy knew his name. He'd truly painted a target on his own back, and probably only to get some attention. She'd watched the conference three or four times, each time getting more and more frustrated with him. Didn't he realise that doing something so stupid was only going to get him killed? Probably. Stupid, stubborn, asshole! Justin had completely flipped out when Tony revealed himself, so much so that he went home early, and Pepper couldn't help but find his outrage a little funny. He was clearly thinking Tony would win some kind of secret business points for being a super hero, and that was funny, but she was also pretty sure that it was accurate. If she knew Tony, and she very much did know Tony, he could only turn this into good publicity. Like he did with every video of him that ended up on YouTube, otherwise he'd be in the gutter rather than being a multi-billionaire. But Pepper had had enough. She was done thinking about him, she was supposed to be forgetting him, so she turned off the TV and got on with her work, only she couldn't do that either because when she got back to her desk, she realised Justin had left some blueprints that he needed to sign off on by the next morning, which meant she needed to take them to him.

Justin's house was completely different to Tony's. Where Tony's had the subtle essence of style amongst all the expensive toys, Justin's looked like a frat house dorm for the elite. Guaranteed if you took something of Tony's, Justin would have the 'next one up', because although Tony could have the very best of whatever caught his eye, he only had what he wanted. Justin just wanted the best, and he told Pepper as much when he'd hired her – 'who can have better than Tony Stark?' – which was kind of flattering if you squinted. She'd been given a key to Justin's house on her second day on the job – even though she rarely needed to be there – so she let herself in and made her way to his office on the first floor, smiling a little when she found him there.

"You left the Linderman prints in my office." She said, shaking her head in mock disappointment. "What would you do without me, hmm?"

"Probably be in a lot more shit." He chuckled, taking the blueprints from her. Pepper wrinkled her nose at the curse – she'd never been fond of swearing – but fixed the smile back in place and nodded.

"Definitely." She said. "Make sure you have a good look at those, they're...well, I'm not exactly an architect, but hell, I'd buy a building like that."

Justin rose his eyebrows and stood up as he unfurled the plans, leaning against his desk and looking them over. "Wow, you're right. You've got a good eye for this, is there anything you can't do, Virginia?"

Hearing her actual name used was...weird. She'd only heard variations of her nickname for so long, she forgot she had a first name most of the time. She smiled shyly, recognising the compliment and tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "You can call me Pepper, you know." She said softly, a faint blush rising in her cheeks. Justin raised an eyebrow and rolled the plans back up before placing them on the desk behind him and stepping into Pepper's personal space, cupping her cheek and sighing.

"That was  _his_  name for you." He said, obviously referring to Tony. "You're not his anymore." And with that said, he dipped his head and pressed his lips firmly to hers.

She didn't stop him. There didn't seem to be any point in stopping him. He was right, she wasn't his anymore. She didn't feel like Pepper anymore.


	13. Thirteen

It had been a long six months without her, and if he was honest with himself he was surprised he'd made it this far. Not just because of his heart break, he was pretty sure something was wrong with the arc reactor in his chest, and the hint was that he was having trouble breathing, and there was some sort of dark bruising around the arc. That couldn't be good. He had Jarvis scan the arc, and his AI concluded that the palladium core was leaking into his blood stream. That definitely wasn't good. So he started searching through the hundred or so elements, trying to find a replacement. He tried, and tried. For six months he sifted through every variation of every element in the periodic table, and absolutely nothing was viable. He thought back to Yinsen's words; 'that could run your heart for fifty lifetimes'. Just a shame blood and palladium didn't play as nicely, otherwise he could have tested that theory out.

He'd been planning on a major sulking session with an old bottle of brandy to drink his troubles away, but the powers that be seemed to have other ideas.

"And it looks like Virginia Potts has moved on from supposed lover Anthony Stark! Potts was pictured at a charity fundraiser last night smooching none other than Stark's rival and Potts' new boss, Justin Hammer." Tony's head shot up at this and he stared at the TV, his lip twitching as a picture of Hammer and Pepper kissing flashed across it. He didn't wait to hear any more from the newsreader, switching the TV off and heading to the office. He had work to do company wise, and he figured he'd better get it done before he kicked the bucket.

Which brought him to that day, sulking in his office, on his fourth scotch of the morning and trying to work through the quarterly projections on his computer. Where had he gone so wrong? He'd driven the only person he'd loved in nearly twenty years away, and he was dying. And, he was pretty sure no one would give a damn when the latter happened. He sighed deeply and swiped at the computer, batting the figures away before leaning across his desk to press the button for the intercom.

"Miss Rushman, come in here a sec would you? And bring the plans for the Expo with you."

Natalie had been with him for three weeks. He'd eventually conceded that he did need a babysitter – read: personal assistant – and along she'd come. She'd worked in the legal department for eight months and as soon as he saw her, he knew he had to have her. There was no denying it, she was hot. Mind meltingly, pulse racingly, light-a-match-off-her-ass hot, and he'd be lying if he said he'd hired her for any other reason. He needed some tail to chase, even if it was only to cheer himself up. She was shorter than he was, which he loved, had deep, auburn hair, and more curves than a racetrack, and when she walked into a room with him, everyone paid attention. As did he when she walked into one alone. He sat up a little straighter when she approached, smiling and taking the plans from her. "Thank you, Natalie." He said silkily, eyes twinkling. "Let me ask you, you've been my PA for nearly a month, how do you feel about monthaversaries?"

Natalie smirked at him, ducking her head shyly. "I don't think drinking on the job is a good idea, sir." She said softly, looking at him through her eyelashes. "Besides, that bottle's nearly empty, you've done a good job yourself."

Tony snorted and drained what was left in his glass. "Come on, you're not gonna let your old boss drink alone are you?" he was enjoying the flirting, it had been far too long since he'd had to make any effort to get a woman. "You know you want to."

Natalie bit her lip and turned on the spot. At first Tony was shocked, thinking she was walking out, and was halfway through forming an apology before she slowly closed the door, staying inside the room. He smirked as she walked back to him and put his glass back on the desk.

* * *

There was nothing in particular wrong with Justin Hammer. Pepper knew that, and it was why she stuck with him, even though he wasn't particularly attractive to her (maybe without the vest and glasses, but even then he was too lanky and simple for her taste). He was very good to her- he really was, and despite the tabloids' claims that their 'relationship' was a fraud created by the company to up interest in their stocks, she knew that had little to do with it. He told her so himself.

He liked to parade her around on his arm and preen about it, which might have been sweet but was also annoying. He'd take her with him to benefits and whenever someone would make a comment about their relationship he would sigh self-effacingly, as if he himself could hardly believe his own luck, and exclaim, "Gosh, I know! I'm the luckiest man there is." he bought her roses every Monday and had them delivered to her office in a vase that lasted the whole week. In short, there was nothing about their relationship she had complaints about.

But he still wasn't Tony. He would never be Tony- and she would never feel the way about Justin that he felt for her, because her heart still belonged to someone else. Someone else who had determinedly disappeared from the headlines for almost six months. Pepper, unlike Tony, was relatively good at keeping her mouth shut. But she was horrible at lying to herself, and even though she could lie to Justin as much as she needed to, inside she knew what- and who- she really wanted. She had hoped that time would numb it a little bit, but it got worse. Everything got worse.

Tony was in the news again. To Pepper, he looked tired. He looked like he wasn't taking care of himself, actually, which didn't surprise her, because  _she_  had always been there to take care of him until very recently, and now, with his new assistant looking like some sort of pay-by-the-day hooker dressed to impress, she could do nothing but assume. And she assumed- correctly- that he was fucking her. But he had a right to do whatever and whomever he wished and she had a legal obligation to keep her mouth shut, so she did. Mostly.

But it was when Justin broke down and asked her a very specific question that she started to lose that ability to hide.

Justin wasn't bad at sex. It was just that comparing sex with anyone to sex with Tony was like comparing dog shit with expensive chocolate. She didn't say anything about it, and, thankfully, he never asked if he was any good and never seemed to notice when he finished first. Which was usually. It was one night like that when he shocked her by not immediately falling asleep, his fingers brushing over her shoulder as she sighed and he spoke. "Hey," he asked, more softly than she'd ever heard him, "Do you ever…miss working at SI?"

It was like he had read her mind. She stiffened slightly and swallowed, steeling herself. "I….I worked there for a long time," she temporized, as if that excused anything. "So…sometimes. But not often." She amended it at the end with a soft peck on the lips that made him smile, which made her heart ache for another man, in another bed, miles away.

"I love you, Ginny," he mumbled, which she felt like she would never  _not_  want to wince at. She didn't know what to say, and he noticed her  _not_  saying it back, and sighed, settling for wrapping his arm around her and cuddling her. Thankfully, he was sound asleep when she started crying silently.

* * *

As the days turned into weeks, Tony began to feel the pain in his chest waning slightly. Only slightly, and only to be replaced with the sensation of being stabbed repeatedly with thousands of tiny knives right in his ventricles. There was still that lingering disappointment that hit him like a cannon ball to the chest when he woke up and saw deep auburn red instead of sunset, but he needed to nip this in the bud. He couldn't spend what little time he had left pining over something that clearly wasn't ever going to come back. So, with Natalie's help, they got the Expo up and running. He managed to make the opening speech with no problems. It was only when he got to his car afterwards and was presented with summons to court that he realised things weren't going to plan at all. Mainly because both Pepper and Hammer were going to be there. The Government had been wanting to take his suit from him for some time now, and this seemed to be their latest weapon in making that a reality. He was to appear in court in order to determine whether the suit was technically a weapon, which if used that way it was, but at the moment the only person it was hurting was its maker. He didn't have the energy to protest it, he was physically and emotionally exhausted, and seeing Pepper the next day wasn't going to make it any better.

When Tony announced the Expo, Pepper suddenly realized how slowly things had been moving up until then. Justin was a madman. He was convinced that the Expo meant that HI was done for unless he presented something, which she did her best to convince him wasn't true, but he didn't want to hear it. All she succeeded on convincing him was that he didn't need to have something ready for the opening. Being there would be enough. Enough to drive her completely out of her mind. Yes, she was there, on Justin's arm as she always was, but all she saw was Tony. And she couldn't decide if she hated him or wanted to drop Justin and HI on the spot.

Tony tried to ignore them as they walked in. Tried to ignore the blinding pain in his chest -which if he thought about it, wasn't entirely to do with seeing Pepper and Hammer all over each other- while Natalie tried her best to keep him calm and  _in his seat_. The entire hearing was just an excuse to try and make him sweat, and he wasn't one to sweat easily. He shot down every argument that they threw at him. But then they upped the game by bringing Hammer up to the stand, and Tony barely managed to contain the urge to tackle him and beat the crap out of him. Justin was ever more ridiculous at the hearing than he'd been at the Expo. Pepper- Virginia- was fairly sure that had something to do with the number of people that were at the hearing- very few, which meant that no matter what, Tony would see them. And the whole thing felt so absurd, so cruelly high-school-esque to her, but the moment she saw that whore of an assistant he'd brought with him she couldn't help but play along. The problem was, she was playing, and Justin wasn't. He was fawning on her- always touching her, his hand in hers or his arm around her shoulders or his nose against her cheek as he whispered something to her that she couldn't quite hear. And yes, she was doing the same, but each time she did she could only imagine the look on Tony's face. She caught a glimpse, once, when she laid her hand on Justin's arm and reminded him of an important aspect he needed to cover in his speech, and she saw that Tony was watching them. The darkness in and around his eyes made her heart stutter in her chest, but she tore her eyes away and, boldly, kissed Justin's cheek. As if there was anything else she could have done.

It was ripping Tony apart to see the both of them, flaunting their relationship at him like he deserved it. He tried to take his mind off it (and also give Justin a kick to the nuts) by hacking into the screens in the courtroom to show how the world was progressing – or wasn't progressing – with building their own Iron Man suits, including Justin's attempt. He got a little satisfaction from watching Justin frantically scrambling to unplug the screen, and the look on Pepper's face amused him. Clearly the bespectacled wonder hadn't included her in his plans. He didn't stay to see the fruits of his labour. He flashed a little to the cameras, showboated a little and made some speech about being a nuclear deterrent, and left the courtroom, Natalie on his arm, half hanging, half helping him walk as his legs didn't seem to want to move properly. It was getting ridiculous, he needed to get to work.

Justin was trying to recover his position, because even Senator Stern was wondering what exactly Hammer had been trying to achieve without Government backing. Like the clean-cut professional woman she was, Pepper stood beside him and interrupted- "I hate to interrupt," she lied, "but what Justin- Mr. Hammer-" an endearing slip of professionalism, sure to win over even the coldest of hearts, with her fake blush, "is trying to say is that it was entirely within his rights as the supplier of the government's weapons to attempt the replication of some sort of Iron Man suit, in light of Mr. Stark's clear intentions to keep his weapons to himself." Not that she disagreed with him. "I'm sure," she batted her eyes just a little, just enough, seeing Justin's jaw drop out of the corner of her eye, "that none of you would have asked him to do otherwise- in fact, if all else fails, Hammer Industries' prototypes may be the government's only hope for matching Stark's technology with any kind of accuracy, should he continue to refuse to cooperate."

She couldn't help feeling like a traitor as they walked out, with the wrong man's hand on the small of her back and the wrong man's voice in her ear, thanking her, telling her how fantastic she was.


	14. Fourteen

Tony's health was deteriorating faster than he could keep track of it. After the hearing, he'd pretty much collapsed when he got home having driven the entire way back. The stress of seeing Pepper and Hammer had taken too much out of him, and it took him nearly three days to feel well enough to get any more work done. Natasha suggested a trip to Italy, get some fresher air, but Tony vetoed that pretty much instantly, saying there were too many memories to drag him back under.

"You can't put your whole life on hold because of her, Tony." She'd said, arguing for the millionth time about Tony's moping. "It's not healthy and, frankly, it's a little insulting to see you looking like someone's died all the time when I'm trying to help. I mean you've got lots to look forward to."

This caught his attention and he snorted, looking up from where he was fiddling with yet another virtual diagram of a replacement for his arc. "Oh yeah? Like what, exactly?" he turned back and scrapped the whole hologram. "Name one thing I've got going for me before I kick the bucket."

Natasha glared at him, knowing he was in one of his childish moods, but she had a trump card. "Monaco." She said. "Remember? You've got the historical race…thing to go to. That'll be fun, right? Fast girls, fine food, lovely weather-"

"Are they going?" he asked, interrupting her.

"Not from what I can see on the guest list." She said, tapping it up on a 'spare' tablet on his desk.

Tony nodded, standing up and stretching. "When is it again?" he asked, brushing past her and up the stairs, expecting her to follow, which she did.

"Week after next." Natasha supplied, tailing him into the lounge. "You're supposed to be there by the Wednesday, assuming you RSVP-"

Tony clicked his fingers and turned to her with a smile. "I wanna race my own car."

Natasha blinked, assuming this meant he wanted to go. "Well, you are, you've got an Arc powered car-"

"No, no, I want to  _race_  my own car. Drive it." He beamed at her. "You can sort that out, right?"

* * *

"Now, remember what we talked about." Pepper whispered to Justin as they walked into the hotel around which the race would be held. "All you have to do is stop Tony wanting to punch you in the face-"

Justin snorted and wrapped his arm around Pepper's arms, strutting into the building like the cat that caught the canary. "I'd like to see him try, he looked sick as a dog last time he was on the news." He laughed.

Pepper sighed, partly because what Hammer said was true, and partly down to the fact that he even said it, as if it was something else he'd won over Tony. While it was true that she was now, as far as anything was concerned, Justin's, she still cared about Tony, and seeing him looking like he was at death's door had struck a chord with her. But she couldn't think like that. Tony apparently had that pay by the day hooker of an assistant, if the gossip magazines were to be believed, and she needed to concentrate on Justin.

"Just try and be professional." She continued. "If things go well, hopefully your suspension will be lifted and you can finish what you started for the military."

"Yeah, yeah, let's not talk about business for a second." He said, shit-eating grin in place as they sat down. "Listen, I've been wanting to ask you something for a while now, and I think now, with the romantic setting and the future looking good, well, now's the time to ask if you'd marry me."

Pepper, who'd just taken a sip of her champagne, spluttered a little, staring at him with wide eyes. "W-what? You…Justin, I really don't think that's a good idea."

"Why the hell not?" he asked, still annoyingly optimistic. "I love you, you love me, I'm handsome, rich and let's face it, a catch." He held his arms out and chuckled. "What have you got to lose?"

She pursed her lips and thought for a moment, and unfortunately couldn't think of any reason to say no, other than 'I don't love you', but she wasn't that cruel. "Can I think about it?" she asked, trying to give herself opportunity to back out.

"Does that mean…no?" he asked, the smug grin waning slightly.

"No." she said quickly. "No, it's not a no, it's just…I need to think about it." She sighed. "It's not a no, it's a maybe. I don't even know if I want to get married at all."

Justin screwed his face up, as if trying to work out exactly what she needed to think about, but as Pepper watching the gears in his head turn over, his expression changed back into that smug smile she was growing to hate.

"Tony! Tony Stark you son of a gun, how are you doing?"

Pepper turned as Justin stood up and walked towards Tony, steeling herself, but when she saw the aforementioned assistant grasping onto his hand like she belonged there, she felt something snap inside her and the sympathy she'd felt at the beginning of the day for Tony's health soon melted away to resentment.

"Mr Stark." She said with an icy tone, barely glancing at him as she swapped her attention to Natalie. "And Miss…"

"Rushman." Natalie supplied, holding her free hand out to shake Pepper's. "You must be Pep- Virginia Potts." She said, noticing Tony's flinch at the brief mention of her old name. "Nice to meet you."

While the two women exchanged pleasantries, Tony was trying not to self-combust. He'd been under the impression that neither Justin or Pepper would be there, and seeing her again was bad enough, but having her treating him like a stranger, calling him by his surname as if they'd been nothing more than boss and employee, was killing him. His eyes were downcast as everyone else conversed, the only thing stopping him from suddenly feigning illness was Natalie anchoring him down, nails digging into his hand. She understood exactly how much this was affecting him, and the fact that someone actually cared about him was enough to stop his head exploding. Finally, Pepper was dragged away to talk business with a few of Justin's associates and the man himself turned to watch her leave with a sigh.

"You let a good one go there, Stark." He gushed, nudging the other man's shoulder. "A real find, my Virginia."

The use of Pepper's actual name caused Tony to glower dangerously at the smaller man for a moment before Justin laughed and pretty much shattered Tony's world.

"Virginia Hammer…doesn't really go together does it?"

Tony blanched and finally raised his eyes to stare at Justin for a moment before glancing at Pepper. Muttering apologies and trying his best to maintain some sort of decorum, Tony excused himself and practically ran to the bathroom, checking that no one was in there before raising his fist and slamming it into the mirror, causing the glass to smash and splinter. He panted, trying to calm down, pulling his hand back and examining the damage before looking up at his reflection in the broken glass.

"Got any more bright ideas?"

* * *

Pepper didn't notice that Tony had left. After she's spoken to Justin's associates, he dragged her off to get a prime seat on the veranda and then went to get them both a drink. She'd sat down for a total of ten seconds before once again, Tony Stark made her entire world stop turning. The hotel had supplied TV sets all over the place, most of which were showing view's from the pits, and the one she'd happened to zone in on was the one for Tony's car, and what she happened to see was Tony basically kicking the driver out of the pit and donning a set of leathers and a helmet. She should have known from there that the day wasn't going to go the way she'd thought, and her fears were confirmed when the race was about a third of the way through and a huge man pretending to be an official ran on to the track and started attacking the cars. She was out of her seat in an instant, bumping into Happy on the way out.

"Oh my God, Happy, what the hell's going on?" she asked as people in the hotel started running out to the track.

"Seriously?" Happy asked, glaring at her. "What's happening is that Tony is going through some kind of mental breakdown because you left him, now do you wanna keep asking me questions or help him not get killed?"

Tony, on the other hand, was desperately confused. He'd turned the last corner for the home straight and come face to face with a sea of wrecked million-dollar race cars, and some guy standing in the midst of them all, brandishing electric whips. At first he started questioning his sanity, but then he heard his car tearing apart and felt himself flying through the air, upside down, landing with a sickening crunch on the tarmac a hundred feet from where he'd taken off. He managed to get his bearings and crawl out from the wreckage of the car, but the guy kept trying to whip Tony. But Tony was a hell of a lot quicker than him, and despite some near misses and a quick floor-level dance routine, he managed to fend the guy off. And then Happy appeared out of fucking nowhere and smashed the Bentley into him. And nearly into Tony.

"Who were you aiming for? Me or him?!" he yelled and went to get into the car, stopping when he spotted Pepper in the back seat holding the Football. He was about to ask what she was doing there when the-guy-with-the-whips started up again and sliced the open door off the car. God, what was it with this dude and Tony's cars?! Tony dodged around to the other side of the car, quickly followed by a whip which sliced the entire roof off of it. Happy was yelling, trying to reverse and then speed forwards to slam the guy back into the fence, Pepper was screaming in fear and all Tony wanted was the Football. Finally, Pepper managed to compose herself long enough to hurl it out of the window at him, and then Mr Whippy was done for. He suited up and immediately set about pummelling the guy into the ground, taking a few licks along the way but ultimately kicking his ass. Tony had to get the suit off pretty sharpish once the fight was over seeing as the whips had caused a few components to short circuit, and once it was off, he turned to find Pepper stepping out of the wreck of the car. His heart was immediately in his throat as he stared at her. He was very aware that his illness was leaving a mark on his neck which she was bound to notice if she got any closer, which she seemed to be doing. Either that or he was moving closer. Either way, they were nearly within arm's reach of each other-

And then Hammer turned up.

He immediately rushed over to Pepper, kissing her deeply and hugging her close before rounding on Tony. "Now listen here, buddy." Hammer started, pointing at Tony and trying to look threatening. "You had your chance, don't go bringing Virginia in trouble when-"

But Tony had had enough. Drawing his fist back, he slammed it into Justin's face, the other man's glasses smashing instantly. Hammer crumpled to the floor with a yell of pain, clutching at his face. Tony simply strode over him, flashing a glare at Pepper before stalking back towards the main building, grabbing Natalie's hand as she appeared in the doorway.


	15. Fifteen

He tried to move on after that, tried his best to go back to his old, carefree ways, but the pain in his chest, both from the Arc and from Pepper meant that he couldn't, not really. Natalie was great, trying to help him as best she could, but he noticed that she kept sneaking off, making hushed phone calls, but he also found that he didn't really care that much. He didn't really care about a lot of things. His company was just as close to deaths door as he was, and he knew it was only a matter of time before it sunk. It was just a case of if he'd be around to see it. But, he had to have one last hurrah, and that came in the form of his birthday party. Natalie told him it wasn't a good idea, but he wasn't having any of it. He wanted a blow out, so that's exactly what he was going to do.

Blow out being the operative word.

The entire thing made the news, most of the air time excluding the actual festivities and focussing in on the massive explosion, the fact that Tony had apparently gone mad and that he'd disappeared off the face of the Earth once the smoke had cleared. Pepper was worried, keeping track of every bit of news she could get a hold of under the pretence of seeing if it affected Hammer stock. And then one day he came home looking like a kid at Christmas, babbling about a suit that the military wanted him to arm, and at first Pepper rolled her eyes, thinking that yet another ambitious engineer was trying to replicate the Iron Man suit. And then Justin said it was one of Tony's suits and she couldn't believe what she was hearing. She didn't go with him but he told her all about it. All she could think was that something had to be terribly wrong with Tony if he let Rhodey take the suit. She knew that there was better security than that, and the only explanation she could think of was that Tony had given up on being responsible and lost it for good.

The only thing he had lost, in actual fact, was his sense of humour when it came to the eye patch guy. He kept turning up exactly when Tony didn't want to see anyone, ever since he'd 'politely declined' his offer of joining the Avengers whatever. And now, here he was, just when Tony was trying to recover from the hangover of the century, paired with the constant thudding ache behind the Arc. All he wanted to do was to curl up and wait to die, but apparently life had other plans, and so did Natalie. No sooner had he sat down was she stabbing him in the neck, but he felt a lot better for it, the victory of the cure only dulled by the fact that it wasn't a cure. But apparently Nick Fury knew a lot more than he was letting on, because inside of the huge trunk he'd given Tony was hours worth of film from various things, mostly blooper reels from various Expo's, and at the end of one of these, Tony had found the inspiration for his cure.

"What is, and always will be my greatest creation, is you."

Well, who'd have thought?

He really set to work after that, worked harder than he'd ever worked before, somehow managed to get around the measures SHIELD had put in place to make sure that he couldn't leave the house, and after hours of painstaking demolishing and building and creating, he finally cracked it. He had the cure, a new Arc, a new element, the thing to help him live and get his life back, and he knew exactly where he was going to start. The Expo.

* * *

The Expo generally pissed Pepper off. It was huge, it was showy, and it was a waste of time. She had the general feeling that Tony was using it to inflate his own over gorged ego, not that she should have been surprised. But, again, she could remember when he had been so different with her. Afghanistan. And immediately following Afghanistan. She spent the next three days wondering if it had been her that had changed him and not the terrorists. Her conclusion was that it was a stupid question and it didn't matter because she had, as she reminded herself every day, successfully ruined the perfect relationship because she was afraid to get raped again. Which sounded like a good enough reason, but in hindsight, no reason was a good reason to leave Tony. This time, though, Tony wasn't there at the Expo. She didn't see him, anyway- she knew that Justin was making the main presentation, and she sat in the centre of the front row as he dorky-danced onstage, wincing out a painful smile at his awkwardness. She didn't want to compare them, she really didn't, but Tony…he was suave. That at least could be said of him any time in his career, drunk or sober. He was smooth as a cold drink and he knew just how to talk to the people he was talking to. Meanwhile Justin was talking to the audience like he was trying to sell a Shamwow towel. When Rhodey came out onstage, though, she clapped along with everyone else. They'd lost touch since she started working for HI, but she had always respected him, and if she was honest, stupidly large guns aside, Justin hadn't done such a bad job, and she was looking forward to see what he'd arranged for the demonstration. And then Tony turned up, and again, if she was honest, she was so glad. When he vanished after his birthday party, she'd thought about looking for him, but given his reaction at Monaco, she didn't think it would go down well. But when she saw him again, and saw just how quickly the scene before her unravelled, she cursed herself for ever thinking that Justin could have created these suits on his own, or that leaving Tony had ever been a good idea. As soon as the activated drones caught sight of Tony in his suit, they seemed to snap into action and give chance as he zoomed away, Rhodey's suit included. The entire building was quickly evacuated as the remaining land based drones stomped their way into the crowd and started ripping the place apart, her included, and she ran to find Justin who was hiding out with his geek crew in the back, furiously trying to figure out what happened with the drones. And then it came out. Justin's conspiracy with Vanko, breaking him out of jail, everything. She'd been a fool, and she'd been tricked by a bigger fool. He'd hired a psychotic Russian, without telling her, to make Tony look like an idiot, without telling her. And the psychotic Russian happened to want Tony dead.

She did the only thing she could think of- she called the police. And when Justin turned to her, flabbergasted, jaw hanging open, she tugged the ring off her finger and dropped it in his palm. "I did this for us!" he insisted- she knew better. She'd been living in a man's world far too long to believe that.

"No," she shook her head, "You did this for you and your company. And I'm done."

To him it probably seemed sudden. To her what seemed sudden was the beeping of a drone in front of her on the staircase as its chest piece began to glow, blinking red.

* * *

Tony, on the other hand, was having a whale of a time. He'd been testing the new Arc when he got a call from Vanko, which was shocking on two levels as he was supposed to be dead and he cracked through SHIELD's systems.

"What the Stark family did over forty years, I will do to you in forty minutes." Was the last threatening words Tony heard before the phone was cut off, and he jumped into action.

Without waiting for the tests to complete, he grabbed the Arc and jammed it into place in his chest, much to Jarvis' chagrin, the AI shouting warnings at him the entire time. But Tony didn't care, and he knew was that Vanko was going to start something big, and he needed to stop him once and for all, even if it meant flying straight into a trap. He zoomed over to Flushing Meadows, interrupting Hammer's spiel about his new drones, which were technically Tony's drones, but whatever.

"H-hey, Tony." Justin stuttered nervously, trying to maintain a sense of decorum for the show, but Tony didn't care anymore.

"Where is he?" Tony growled. "Where's Vanko?"

"What are you talking about, man?" Justin asked weakly, and Tony was just about to try punching the man in the face to get an answer when Rhodey started yelling that his suit had been compromised and was locked onto Tony, who quickly zoomed away with his friend and ten other drones hot on his heels.

He could tell immediately that this was what Vanko had been planning all along. While Justin had thought that he was playing Vanko, Vanko had really been playing him. A get out of jail free card, complete with revenge on the Stark family. He was trying his utmost not to do any more damage than he'd already caused, but inevitably the Meadows weren't going to stay intact. Finally, he managed to shoot down the drones that were tailing him and get Rhodey back, thanks to a little help from Natasha.

"Your vitals look promising." She muttered, having hacked into his own suit some time ago.

"Yes, for once I'm not dying." He jabbed back, stomping over to Rhodey's limp and groaning form.

"Man, you can have your suit back." The other man mumbled tiredly, the face plate lifting up so he could see Tony. "I am never, ever doing that again. Ever."

Tony chuckled and helped Rhodey up, patting his metal shoulder. "Come on dude, where's your sense of fun?"

Shaking his head, Rhodey mentally checked himself over to make sure everything was still working. "I think it got shot out of me about a half our ago." He said.

"Guys, not to break up the reunion or anything, but there's something coming at you." Natasha said.

"Drone?" Tony asked, using the suit to scan the surrounding area for anything out of the ordinary.

"Yeah, but…it's different. It's coming in hot, watch your backs."

No sooner had the words left Natasha's mouth, there was a resounding boom echoed through the dark night sky and before they could blink, a missile was heading straight for them and they just managed to jump out of the way before it hit the ground where they'd been standing, completely decimating the surrounding area and flinging both Tony and Rhodey back a good hundred yards. A drone landed seconds after and lifted his faceplate, revealing Vanko inside, grinning like the madman he was.

"Now it's a party, yes?" he chuckled, flicking out electric whips from each of his gauntlets and starting to attack the both of them as they struggled to get up. Rhodey managed to dodge out of the way while Tony was wrapped up in the whips, the electricity playing havoc with his suit and frying the circuits. He tried to activate his repulsors, but nothing was working.

"Hey, dead guy, heads up." Rhodey called from behind Vanko and aimed a torrent of bullets from the enormous turret mounted on his shoulder at him. But Vanko was too quick, his suit too advanced. The bullets merely bounced off him and quicker than Rhodey could blink, a whip was wrapped around his neck too, incapacitating him.

"You are too greedy!" Vanko yelled, tightening the whips on both of them to try and crush the suits. "You have everything, but act like you have nothing, so you take from others! From innocent men!"

"Innocent?!" Tony yelled back, ignoring the warnings that Jarvis was flashing up. "You think your father was innocent? Man, your father was more crooked than you!"

Vanko let out a yell of rage and tightened the whips again. Rhodey whimpered a little and frantically tried to untangle them with his hands to no avail. "You will die, Tony Stark!" Vanko yelled at him, teeth gritted in anger. "You will die today, and so will everyone you love, and it will be your fault."

"Tony, do something!" Rhodey gasped.

Tony wracked his brain for something, anything that would help, and then out of nowhere an image of his birthday party flashed up, and he grinned. "Buddy, I could really use a sidekick." He shouted, raising his hand and powering up the repulsor.

"Seriously? This is your plan?" Rhodey asked incredulously as he did the same.

"We'll see!" he called back and as one, they fired at each other, creating a huge ball of energy right in front of Vanko which exploded and sent them all flying. What was left of the glass in the dome shattered and came falling down on their heads, but when the smoke cleared, Vanko was done. He lay on the ground, his own suit sparking every so often, and when Tony and Rhodey had both recovered, they walked over to him.

"I think the plan worked." Tony said, though his suit would have said otherwise.

"Glass is half full in your little world, huh?" Rhodey said, panting a little.

Tony shrugged and bent down on his haunches to take a good look at Vanko's lifeless body. "Well, the big bad is dead, so- holy crap!" Vanko's eyes had snapped open and he was staring right at Tony who jumped up and stumbled back.

"You lose." He grunted before closing his eyes again. Tony stared at him for a moment before snorting.

"Do you think that meant anything or is that what he wants on his gravestone?" he asked, turning to Rhodey, but Rhodey was staring at Vanko's suit which had started beeping, a red light flashing with each one. "Oh, yeah it probably meant something then."

"We gotta get out of here, man." Rhodey muttered as the other littered drones started beeping as well.

"Yup." Tony agreed. "Romanoff, is everyone clear?"

"I can't find Pepper." Natasha gasped over the comlink.

Tony blanched. "What? Pepper's here?" Jarvis quickly began trying to locate her as Tony spoke, immediately zoning in on Pepper's cell phone and quick as a flash, Tony was off, cranking the suit as fast as it would go to try and get to her. He spotted her standing outside the main entrance hall, just staring at one of the drones, and he wondered if she'd thought that maybe she should get away from the weird evil flashy thing, but he could ask her that later, assuming they got away. He dropped down in front of her, grabbed her around the waist and whipped the scream right out of her mouth as he blasted off again, Pepper safe in his arms. He could feel the heat from the massive explosion on his heels as they zoomed away, and when he figured they were far enough away, he landed on a roof top and set her down, yanking off his helmet which had started fizzing.

"Oh my God!" Pepper gasped, trembling where she stood.

"Pep, it's okay." Tony said, panting as he stepped forwards and tried to hug her. She let him for a few seconds before pulling back and slapping him in the face. Tony stumbled back and blinked. "Okay, well that wasn't the thanks I was expecting-" before he could finish his sentence, she'd thrown herself at him again and her lips landed on his, kissing him deeply. It was like they'd never stopped. The entire weight he'd been carrying for all those months seemed to just vanish, and the only thing that mattered to him was keeping his mouth attached to hers. He wound his other arm around her waist and pulled her closer, whimpering into her mouth as his emotions reached boiling point. Pulling back to catch a breath several minutes later, he rested his forehead against hers, eyes closed, but from the feeling of her hand in his hair, he knew everything was going to be okay. "Don't ever, ever,  _ever_ leave me again." he said in a rough voice. "Okay? Ever."

She laughed tearfully at his comment and nodded, a little breathless. "I won't," she promised, closing her eyes. "I'm sorry. I was an idiot. Yes," she added, expecting his snarky remark, "I make mistakes, too, alright? And leaving you was…probably the biggest mistake I've ever made besides agreeing to marry the world's biggest douchebag. Which, by the way," she held up her left hand so he could see, unable to stop a grin spreading across her face.

He grinned right back at her, his hand shaking slightly at her hip. "Why did you ever agree to even work for the guy?" He asked and then shook his head. "Know what, it doesn't matter. What matters is us and that's it. Although, that finger does look a little bare." He pulled back a little and took hold of his left gauntlet, yanking off the little finger and pulling the knuckle join off it, a perfect circle of red metal, before clumsily getting onto one knee. "I didn't stop loving you for a second in the eight months we were apart, and I never will." He said softly. "I know it's not great, I'll get you a proper one later, but will you marry me?" He shook his head. "I'll have come up with a better proposal by then too."

Eight months ago, he'd brought this up and she'd balked at the possibility. Eight months ago she hadn't quite told him no. If she could have gone back eight months ago she would have slapped her former self into next week. Tears sprang to her eyes and her grin was so wide it hurt her face. Pepper shook her head in disbelief as Tony spoke, letting out a choked, pathetic little half-sob when he'd finished. "I- yes," she croaked, as he slipped the 'ring' onto her finger, "Yes, of course, Tony, of course."

His grin was so big he was certain it would fall right off his face. He stood up quickly…and nearly toppled off the roof, catching himself just in time and laughing nervously. "I think I need to get this suit off." He muttered, cupping her cheek and sighing. "I love you so much, we're gonna be okay."

Pepper matched his grin and moved up onto her toes to kiss him again, sliding her hand into her hair.

"We're gonna be okay."

_The End_


	16. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to thank everyone for taking the time to read and review this over the last few months. It took me three years in total to write this, and I'm glad to see people enjoyed all the hard work. Thanks again, see you around!

It had been several months since Tony had last checked up on the small boy that had rescued him and Pepper from the cave, but from what he could tell he was doing fine. After landing at the military base before returning home, Asim had been taken into temporary asylum until the military could figure out exactly what to do with him. It had been discovered that the boy was only eight years old, and there was no way they could send him back, so for a while he was just held in limbo, until finally Tony had managed to pull a few strings and get him set up in a foster home close to the military base where a lot of other children of war had ended up. Both Tony and Pepper had meant to go back to check up on him, but with one thing and another, the opportunity never arose, and then with their split it just didn't seem appropriate, and frankly it hurt too much to be reminded of everything they'd been through.

When they finally did visit, Tony was nervous. He'd never really met the kid properly, apart from when he'd brought their rescue, and he didn't want to come across as the intimidating rich guy, but Pepper was there to calm his nerves. She held his hand and told him he'd be fine, and true to her word he had nothing to worry about. Asim was ecstatic to see Pepper again, jumping up and launching himself at her when they entered. Tony stood at her side, smiling nervously and twiddling his thumbs.

"Pepper! I have missed you." The boy squealed happily, hugging her tightly.

Pepper reciprocated and wrapped her arms around his back. "I know, I'm sorry." She said before pulling back and straightening up from her crouched position. "Hey, this is Tony. You remember him?"

Asim nodded and stepped forward, eagerly hugging Tony's leg. "Thank you for my new home." He mumbled. Tony swallowed and placed his hand on Asim's head, stroking his hair.

"Don't mention it buddy." He said softly, smiling down at him. "Do you like it here?"

The boy nodded eagerly, stepping back and grabbing Tony's hand and dragging him over to where he'd been playing before. "I love it here! Look at all the toys I can play with!" he sat down at a small table, as did Tony. "We have to share them, but I don't mind, it helps to make friends." He grinned widely and held out a building block to Tony who took it and tossed it in his palm.

"So, you'd like to stay here?" Tony asked, looking over at Pepper who smiled encouragingly. "Because Pepper…well both of us really, we were wondering if you'd like to come home with us?"

Asim, who had been piling his blocks together to form a crude building, froze mid task and snapped his head up to look at Tony.

"Go to America?" he asked quietly. "To…to be a family?"

Tony nodded, nervously fiddling with the block he'd been given before putting it down and reaching over to grab Asim's shoulder gently. "You saved us both." He said. "You're the reason I can have a family with Pepper, and we both want you to be a part of that family." He smiled. "What do you say?"

Asim swallowed, eyes pooling with tears as he sniffed and nodded, quickly shuffling forwards and wrapping his arms around Tony's neck in a hug. Tony let out a breath of relief and wrapped his arms around the boy, standing up as he did so and walking back over to Pepper.

"I guess that's a yes."

The end.

No, really.


End file.
